At 44 years old I am well past my formal school days. While I did ok academically, my memories of school aren’t that great. And I certainly don’t have much interest in sitting exams anymore. But I still love learning new things.
Lifelong learning provides the continuous building of knowledge and skills. Research shows us that this has an extraordinary set of benefits both for the individual student, and for society as a whole. For the individual that can include improving communication skills, developing greater confidence and gaining a wider social network. There are also indications of direct health benefits relating to lifelong learning.
Our world continues to change at a dramatic pace, and being able to learn new things will be crucial to remain relevant, productive, and stay up to date in the decades ahead. But what to learn? And how to learn?
To be effective learning doesn't have to be formal, but it does require some planning. It might happen through self-directed curiosity, but generally won't happen by accident. Finding the right way of learning things for me - my preferred learning style - has been key for me to continue.
I like a reasonable amount of structure.
I don’t necessarily need a huge goal, but like to see that I’m making progress.
I like to practise what I’m learning, not just learn the theory.
In person or online is fine - but I prefer to have an instructor so I can ask questions.
I’m currently deep in two very different learning projects, one physical and one technology focussed.
Two and half years ago I took up Kung Fu (Shao Chi Chuan) and Yang Style Tai Chi. For both I go to the Wellington branch of a New Zealand club, Chans Martial Arts.
This style of teaching suits me really well. Everything is learned directly from an instructor – the role of oral transmission runs deep in both Kung Fu and Tai Chi. But improvement relates directly to practice, and so with my instructors help to structure my practice I can also achieve a lot in my own time. I'm slowly gaining confidence in my new skills, plus I've gained a lovely new group of friends.
I’m also learning to build iOS apps with the help of the London App Brewery’s iOS Development Bootcamp a Udemy course. I’m very new to this, and in fact to any form of coding. The first thing I've noticed is that I enjoy the immediate feedback - the thing I’ve built either works or it doesn’t (mostly it doesn’t at the moment!) I can also see that I’ll enjoy the wide ranging nature of this new challenge, including the chance to learn design skills as well along the way. I’m enjoying the step by step building up of my knowledge. Regular small achievable challenges.
My parents recently bought and moved onto a beautiful olive grove in the Wairarapa. As they enter retirement they are having to learn a lot of new skills as they begin to manage that property. Lifelong learning indeed. They are actively seeking out others in their community to learn from, as well as researching specific subjects online, and then just trying things out - learning by doing. They recently completed their first harvest and I have bottles of olive oil to prove it!
What are your current learning projects?
First off, I love your parents' new home! What a wonderful, peaceful setting!
And I'm impressed by your focus on continued learning. That has never injured or wasted the time of anyone and is the best brain-stimulator you will ever find.
I was a coder (once) and loved the logic challenges that came up from time to time (usually when I had no time at all to be delayed by unexpected "learning opportunities". Later, I was on a long-term systems design project that focused my attention on combining diverse applications.
Anyway, I thought that was a good time to learn bookbinding because it was something I had always been curious about. Once I started learning the steps and building a press and stringing frames, it became my main focus and the computer project was just something I did to pay the bills. The actual physical manipulation of building honest-to-goodness bound books with my hands was the best therapy I could have found.
There is still more to learn about everything and I'm doing a refresher run-through on calculus courses on KhanAcademy.com while I have my early morning cups of tea. Too much to learn and too little time available to learn it all!
Will
Thanks Will. It sounds like you've done a really interesting range of things. I'm a huge fan of Khan Academy - I've just finished their HTML/CSS course and now looking at starting the JS one. I agree - there's never enough time!
I can't claim to use my little educational side trips to full advantage, but I do learn a lot about a variety of (useless, but fun) things. I probably will never use the calculus - not that I ever have since college - but at least it reminds me of why I spent so much time preparing for those two courses!
I like your focus on continuing education. It's interesting and certainly most people could benefit from.
Keep on Steemin'!
This is so true and something not necessarily recognised by our education system that seems to imply your learning has finished once you finish school or earn your degree. Learning is continuous and a joy. This is what needs to be taught in schools. There is no point in teaching boring facts - anyone can find them out now with a quick google search. Instead students need to learn how to learn (especially finding out which methods of learning suit them best) and that learning and gaining new skills is fun and something you will continue to do throughout your life.
I'm currently learning many new things including trying to figure out how Steemit works!
Yes of course! I am only just starting to learn Steemit. And I totally agree that making sure our schools support and advocate for lifelong learning, including teaching the skills needed, is really important.
A great post, coding and developing Apps is something I have been interested in learning but never had the time, it is on my list to learn when I have free time when I retire in a couple of years
I dont have any learning projhects as such at the moment other than always trying to learn more and improve my photography skills
PS 44 ohh to be that young agin LOL
I'm really enjoying it. Its such a great feeling when you load your own app (however basic) onto your phone. I've made 6 so far - all very very basic ones.
I love your photos. I particularly liked the boardwalk one late last week. It must be great o be able to look back over a few years worth and see how you are developing as a photographer.
@mandysimpson thats so cool, and thanks for your kind thought son my photos,
whenever I feel in a funk with my photos I look back a couple of years ago and see I am improving and get motivated again
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