Learning Blog

We can all Learn-and transform our brain in the process. That’s the message in this Interview-Part 1 (out of 2) from Dr. James Zull, Professor of Biology and Biochemistry at Case Western University, Director of UCITE (The University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education), and Professor of a Human Learning and The Brain class. Dr. Zull loves to learn. And to teach. And to build connections. He has spent years building bridges between neurobiology and pedagogy, as a result of which he wrote The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning, which shows how neurobiological research can inform and refine some of the best ideas in educational theory.

In that book, Prof. Zull added biological information to David Kolb’s Learning Cycle framework. David Kolb’s Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development book refers to human learning, but Professor Zull tells that today, in his desk, he has cognitive neuroscience papers and research that show that apes go through the same 4 stages when they are learning a new activity, activating exactly the same brain areas than we do.

AF: What is Learning? Can apes really learn in the same way we do?

JZ: Learning is physical. Learning means the modification, growth, and pruning of our neurons, connections-called synapses- and neuronal networks, through experience. And, yes, we have seen that apes go through the same Learning Cycle as we do, activating the same brain areas.

AF: How does Learning happen?

These are the 4 stages of the Learning Cycle. 1) We have a Concrete experience, 2) We develop Reflective Observation and Connections, 3) We generate Abstract hypothesis, 4) We then do Active testing of those hypotheses, and therefore have a new Concrete experience, and a new Learning Cycle ensues.

In other words, we 1) get information (sensory cortex), 2) make meaning of that information (back integrative cortex), 3) create new ideas from these meanings (front integrative cortex) and 4) act on those ideas (motor cortex). From this I propose that there are four pillars of learning: gathering, analyzing, creating, and acting.

This is how we learn. Now, learning this way requires effort and getting out of our comfort zones. A key condition for learning is self-driven motivation, a sense of ownership. To feel in control, to feel that one is making progress, is necessary for this Learning Cycle to self-perpetuate. Antonio Damasio made a strong point on the role of emotions in his great Descartes’ Error book.

AF: can we, as learners, motivate ourselves? How can we become better learners?

JZ: Great question, because in fact that is a uniquely human ability, at least to the degree we can do so. We know that the Frontal Lobes, which are proportionally much larger in humans than in any other mammal, are key for emotional self-regulation. We can be proactive and identify the areas that motivate us, and build on those. In other words, the Art of the Learner may be the Art of Finding Connections between the new information and challenges and what we already know and care about.

If I had to select one Mental Muscle that students should really exercise, and grow, during the schooling years, I’d say they need to build this Learning Muscle. Learning how to Learn. That might be even more valuable than learning what we stress in the curriculum, i.e., the subjects we teach.

AF: Do you think this is happening today in our schools?

JZ: I don’t think so. First, of all, too many people still believe that Education means the process by which students passively absorb information. Even if many educators would like to ensure a more participatory and active approach, we still use the structures and priorities of another era. For example, we still pay too much attention to categorizing some kids as intelligent, some as not so, instead of focusing on how they could all learn more.

Second, learning and changing are not that easy. They require effort, and also, by definition, getting out of our comfort zones. We need to try new things, and to fail. The Active Testing phase is a critical one, and sometimes our hypothesis will be right, and sometimes wrong. The fear of failing, the fear of looking un-smart, is a key obstacle to learning that I see too often, especially for people who want to protect perceived reputations to such an extent that they can’t try new genuine Learning Cycles.

AF: Fascinating. Given what you just said, how do you help your students become better learners?

JZ: Despite the fact that every brain is different, let me simplify and say that I usually observe 2 types of students, with different obstacles to learning and therefore benefiting from different strategies.

As technology advances and the number of employers that require their workers to have a degree increases, so has distance learning courses, e learning courses, and a number of course formats that allow open learning.

Essentially open learning means that the student is not restricted by required attendance in a classroom or other meeting place and that to some degree the student can study and learn course material at their own pace. Open learning is a part of many distance learning courses and e learning courses. However, not all distance learning courses and e learning courses are necessarily the same as open learning.

Distance learning helps many people to attain degrees or certification otherwise. Distance learning is a program that allows students to complete course work without attending actual classes. Distance learning gives students a much wider variety of courses they can take.

Traditionally, distance learning courses have been correspondence based, but increasing use of the internet and other communication technology has created several other types of classroom environments. One popular type of distance learning course may mix elements of traditional classrooms with the benefits of distance learning courses, but it can also be exactly the same as a normal classroom with no teacher physically present in the room. These distance learning courses are referred to as Live Interactive Television. In distance learning courses that use Live Interactive Television, the students meet periodically in a classroom at an appointed time and a teacher is filmed at a separate location, but due to a live feed, students in other locations can participate and interact with the teacher. This allows students in remote areas to take advantage of teachers they normally would not have access to. These classes may meet once a day, once a week, or any other number of appointments throughout the course. With a class such as this, even though it does require a scheduled class time, it can still be considered a type of open learning class if the Live Interactive Television sessions are not the bulk of the class work.

Other distance learning courses that are becoming very popular include e learning courses. E learning courses are courses that are administered over the internet. All the course information is provided online and there are typically no scheduled lectures that require physical attendance, but recorded lectures may be made available online. E-learning is one of the most popular forms of open learning because the only requirement is having an internet connection.

Many different open learning courses are currently available and more are being created all the time. Open learning courses allow people to advance their education who could not do so without open learning opportunities.

We go to school to learn; but, did we ever learn how to learn? Have you ever wondered how we learned to speak or to read and write? How do we learn to drive a car, fly an airplane or, for that matter, walk and run? How do we learn arithmetic? How do we learn to communicate? How do we learn to respect, trust and love? How do we learn anything?

Learning how to learn is important because if we don’t or can’t learn, we’re in big trouble! Obviously, we did learn. We learned many behaviors and a fair amount of knowledge. Just by the fact that you are reading and understanding these words suggest not only that you did learn, but that you can learn. Yet, the question is how did you do it? Because if you know how you did it, you can apply that knowledge to just about anything that needs to be learned.

Simply stated, learning is a process of creating, arranging and re-arranging neural interactions and neural program structures within the brain. We’re actually pre-programmed and hard wired for learning and we really don’t have to learn how to learn. But, we can learn how to enhance and magnify our capacity to learn. All learning is in the brain. Even if we are learning a physical dance movement with our feet, the learning is taking place in the brain where neurological “magic” is happening. From there, nerves and muscles are coordinated in an extraordinarily complex process of bioelectrochemical signals.

Before the brain can begin it’s creating, arranging and re-arranging of neural interactions, i.e., before there can be learning, there must be input. Input comes in the form of raw sensory data. Depending on how that date comes in can greatly accelerate, or impede, learning. Raw sensory data is received through the eyes (sight), the ears (sound), the skin (touch), the nose (smell), the tongue (taste) and the musculoskeletal system (movement). Of course, our nervous system is at the base of all these sensory systems, sometimes referred to as the “Sensorium.” Also, a process called “synaesthesia” is often referred to in learning theory. Synaesthesia is the ability to mix up the senses; for example, you can hear the color blue or see the sound of wind. This kind of imaginative shifting of sensory modalities can often be helpful in working with learning disabilities.

In the 1970′s a Bulgarian psychologist by the name of Georgi Lazanov revolutionized the field of learning with his ideas of “superlearning” and “suggestology.” His premise was that various environmental stimuli, when regulated properly, can accelerate learning. Specifically, an environment that induces relaxation was optimal for learning. Another key factor in superlearning was rhythm. The proper rhythms used alternatively, either from background music or sound, is also highly conducive to accelerated learning. Basically, what Lozanov, and others who have followed appear to be saying is that learning is best accomplished in a very relaxed almost hypnotic state of mind. This is very interesting because our schools are anything but relaxing and trance inducing.

Imagine a classroom that is not brightly lit, that is spacious enough for 25 children to lie on the clean, carpeted floor. Imagine soft background sounds, perhaps that of a waterfall or a babbling brook. Imagine then hearing, either from an audio tape or a live person, the singing of the multiplication tables, beginning with the 2′s. Each run through the table is sung at a different rate, rhythm, tone, cadence and volume. Following this exercise, imagine the children then sitting at desks and writing out the multiplication tables they just heard with different colored crayons. Then imagine them singing them out aloud themselves. Imagine any number of games that can then be played using the multiplication tables. How long and how difficult do you think it will be for students to learn the tables this way? Will it be torturous or enjoyable? Gee, kids might even like coming to school to learn! Now, that would be a revolution in education!

Want to learn to ski, or sail, or dance, or surf, or fly an airplane? Well, just about anything can be learned in a very similar method as described above. The only difference is that in the case of physical activities, visualization replaces physical activity. So, let’s say you want to learn to…..play a musical instrument, play the guitar. You can greatly enhance your learning capacity by taking a piece of the skill, say a simple chord, and, in a very relaxed and calm state of mind, you practice that chord in your mind. You visualize every single detail of your hand and fingers. You feel the pressure of the strings on your fingers; you hear the sound of the chord being strummed. Want to learn to fly an airplane? Well, you don’t necessarily need to relax and visualize it. Today, with the advent of modern computer technology, you can enter a flight simulator, which is just inner visualization materialized outward via technology. Even home computers now have flight training programs. Want to improve your athletic performance? There is no question that relaxed visualization is a key component. Top athletes from all over the world and their coaches will attest to the fact that inner visualization has a tremendous impact on improving performance.

The gist of the matter is simple: learning takes place in the brain and the most conducive environment for the brain to learn in is one which allows neural connections to be formed easily, quickly and without resistance or distractions. Subdued lighting, soft background, trance inducing music and relaxation are a highly effective environment for learning and visualization.

Ever wonder why it’s so hard to learn new behaviors? Generally it’s because there is so much stress and anxiety about it. If you really want to learn new behaviors (as opposed to being coerced into it), then use relaxation and visualization. Practice seeing in your mind’s eye the new behavior. As you repeat this process you are creating new neural pathways which are the basis of the behavior you want to generate. Give it a try. You’ll be surprised at how quickly and easily you can learn a new behavior and how well your brain can work when given the proper environment.

‘Learn French fast!’ is the promise so many adverts for language courses promise both online and offline, and anyone who wants to learn French might be tempted to buy them, but do they live up to their claims? In this article we are going to be looking at just what it really takes to learn French fast.

If you are a native speaker of English, or even if you have learned English to a high degree of competency, you already have a natural skill to your advantage, that you can capitalize upon to learn French fast. Many English words are derived from Latin based words, due to invasion of Britain by the Romans and the Normans, who spoke French. This means that thousands of French words are already known to us, in some form or other, even before we start to learn French.

Although, as an English speaker, you do will enjoy certain advantages in learning French words, your knowledge of other languages related to French will also play an important role in whether you can learn French fast. If you happen to have a background in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese or even Romanian, you will have a further advantage in your efforts to learn French fast.

This is because the grammatical structures of these languages is similar to that of French, which means the general concepts underlying the patterns of verbs, tenses and sentence structure will not require the same amount of elucidation they would if you were coming from a background of English only.

Have you studied any other languages successfully in the past? It doesn’t matter whether these languages are related to French, the mere process of having learned a foreign language before, sets the scene for any language learning that follows, and makes it that bit easier.

Looking at what we’ve discussed so far, what immediate advantages do you have to offer yourself to begin to learn French fast? Those represent just the first step.

To learn French fast, you need to get hold of a comprehensive language course to work from, that stimulates as many learning channels as possible at the same time, that is to say, visual, auditory and kinesthetic. A computer-based course is the most effective way to do this, because the entire course is accessible, literally, at the touch of a button. This helps you to learn French fast, because you won’t have to fumble your way through the pages of a text book, or constantly have to find your place on an audio tape or CD, that distracts you from the learning task at hand.

In addition to the positive factors you already possess, you can also speed up your learning of French using certain techniques and strategies that you can acquire. Learning how to concentrate for longer periods of time than the average modern mind is used to will help you focus on learning the French language better.

Also, learn how to use mnemonic techniques, such as association, to aid you in learning French vocabulary, because words are the building blocks of language. The faster you learn them, the faster you learn French! For example, the French for bear is ‘ours’, which sounds a lot like ‘horse’ but with the ‘h; dropped. You only need to imagine bears doing a horse race and you’ve immediately got that word under your belt. Now that’s fast learning!

Finally, to learn French fast, you will have to put in several weeks of intensive study, learning for at least an hour each day, and practicing in your free moments by reviewing the material studied in your active learning sessions.

If you put your mind to it, and you’re willing to study hard, you should be able to learn French fast, relatively speaking.

The skills it incorporates and why you need them

Having been a self-development trainer for many years I have come to the conclusion that when looking at the many life skills that humans need to master in order to mould for themselves a joyous, fulfilling and creative life, accelerated learning skills are probably the most important of all. Not only do these skills make a huge difference to the individual, they also have a massive impact on the corporate sector. The annual figure spent on corporate training is colossal and yet without the implementation of these foundation skills it is apparent that the vast majority of this money, representing thousands of pounds, is being totally wasted.

As opposed to the ‘one career’ life typical of yesteryear, in today’s age most people are being required to make several changes during their working life. It is predicted by Charles Handy, Professor of Economics, that in the generation to come it will not be unusual for someone to have between 5 and 7 completely separate careers. This means that not only must we be adept at change, but also comfortable and confident amongst this constant bombardment of new information and demand for learning. It is already the case that ‘intellectually’ talented people demand higher salaries than those that are ‘physically’ advantaged, and this will be increasingly so in the work environment that is developing.

In this ever-changing world with its fast pace, uncertainty and job insecurity, the only thing that is certain is uncertainty itself. In almost all occupations knowledge is doubling every 2-3 years meaning that someone who is fully qualified in the year 1999 might find their qualifications woefully inadequate by the year 2002.

As the economy in the world shifts, people who are appropriately educated will tend to do best and the premium that society will pay for such skills will climb. ‘Appropriate’ education will be increasingly biased towards the incorporation of accelerated learning techniques, which will provide the core skills necessary to succeed and grow in the years to come. It is important that you look upon life as a lifelong adventure, and appreciate that the future belongs to those who are prepared to change and learn, and that to stand still is really to go backwards

The most important aspect of learning is being proficient in how to learn. Once you can master this ability, no new project, language or situation will again overwhelm you. And once you possess the basic techniques then, like riding a bicycle, they will be with you forever, meaning ‘the world is your oyster’.

To increase your effectiveness in studying in this new age of information overload must you just push yourself harder? Fortunately, the answer is NO. Rising stress levels caused by the need to acquire boundless information forced a study of this issue and a search for solutions. The result was the set of principles developed by academics and known internationally as ‘accelerated learning’. This uses some of the recent advances in cognitive science and offers an exciting new prospective on harnessing the whole brain’s phenomenal capabilities. Accelerated learning offers ways to unlock an amazing array of cognitive skills.

o Exponentially increased abilities for gathering, storing, comprehending, synthesising, sorting, implementing and retaining new-found knowledge.

o Improved concentration and efficiency for stress-free learning.

o Better strategic, critical and creative thinking.

Paradoxically, the strategy to access your huge hidden capabilities is not simply to push yourself harder but to work much more closely with your own hidden mind. Since these concepts are different from most traditional approaches to learning accelerated learning has developed avenues to greatly facilitate whole and direct brain function. Accelerated learning improves our approach to study through learning, research and theory and the laws governing the functioning of the brain. And uses techniques that tap into your brain’s amazing and awesome capabilities.

But before considering entering upon the study of accelerated learning skills you should assess yourself – do you possess the two fundamental characteristics necessary without which you cannot even begin to develop yourself to your greatest potential?

1. A genuine desire to want to learn, and

2. A strong seated belief in your ability to learn.

Without fulfilling these basic criteria all the techniques and skills in the world will be of no use whatsoever and you will never fully develop.

So, what are Accelerated Learning Techniques? They are seven pillars, which combine to effectively provide a profoundly efficient and stress-free method of learning. These are:-

o Understanding the power of the mind and how it works

o Recognising the nine intelligence ‘types’ and identifying your own

o Using mind maps

o Using music

o Speed reading

o Developing effective memory techniques

o Knowing how to study and learn

POWER OF THE MIND. Amazing as it sounds, it is only in the last 150 years that scientists have pinpointed where our brain is, and the last 15-18 years that they have begun to have a proper understanding of how it functions. Dr David Samuels of the Weizmamn Institute estimated that underlying the brain’s basic range of activities up to 1 million chemical reactions take place every minute. There is a minimum of 1,000,000,000,000 (one million million) individual neurons or nerve cells. This figure becomes even more amazing when you realise that each of your neurons can interact with up to 100,000 other neurons in many ways at any one time. In fact, it has recently been estimated that the number of permutations may be 1 followed by 800 zeros. A number too enormous to think about. There really are no limitations whatsoever to the power of your brain. It is limitless.

INTELLIGENCE is not fixed but is a set of abilities and skills applied in a given context. A person can excel in one situation, displaying impressive intelligence and yet appear at a complete loss in another situation. Evaluated at its most basic level intelligence could be described as the ability to Learn – Retain – Recall – Apply. However, studied more closely, Professor Howard Gardner came up with the theory of multiple intelligences and it is now widely accepted that there are nine different ‘types’ of intelligence -

o linguistic/language

o mathematical/logical

o musical

o physical

o inter-personal

o intra-personal

o visio-spacial

o naturist

o spiritual.

Unfortunately, the educational system of today is derived from the 1830′s Prussian system, which addresses and values only two of these intelligence types – linguistic/language and mathematical/logical – and sadly fails those who fall into one of the many other categories. By identifying your own natural type of intelligence you are able to develop it to its full potential. Beyond this, it is also possible to learn how to consciously exploit your full range of intelligences; a technique that ensures balanced learning, and the ability to think in new and different ways.

MIND MAPPING is one of the fundamental keystones to accelerated learning. It is an invaluable device developed by Tony Buzan for learning, retaining, recalling and applying information, which is designed to use the whole brain. It will strengthen or develop your strategic thinking and problem-solving skills. Indeed, mind mapping is such a powerful tool that it can revolutionise your complete approach to work and life, allowing you to adapt a more dynamic, proactive approach to life and enhance your creativity. Mind mapping breaks away from the traditional method of ‘linear learning’ (eg writing in lines) and uses patterns that work more efficiently with your ‘multi-dimensional’ brain. If one had to choose just one of the accelerated learning skills it is mind-mapping that would have the most profound effect upon ones life.

LISTENING TO MUSIC that you enjoy is an uplifting experience, harmonising body and soul. However, used properly it is also an invaluable tool for effortlessly easing new information into your long-term memory. Music can mimic the brain’s wavelength when it is in the receptive state for learning. The left half of the brain relates to the music’s rhythm and sounds and the right side identifies with the textures of each sound. Therefore, learning new words or information against a set musical pattern unites left brain activity (words) and right brain activity (music). For example, Bulgarian educator, Dr Georgi Lozanov, in his pioneering work with accelerated learning techniques carried out extensive studies that demonstrated how Baroque music’s steady tempo of 60 beats per minute parallels the brains wavelength when in a state of relaxed alertness, called Alpha, and is conducive to learning and retention.

SPEED READING is a technique which is governed by understanding how the eye interacts with the brain, recognising memory rhythms and adapting your reading speed for different reading matter. The average person reads at the rate of 240 words per minute, and yet, it is quite possible to obtain the skill of reading up to 2000 or more words per minute. The problems typically experienced by people include lack of concentration, poor recall, unsatisfactory level of understanding, limited attention span and the inability to deal with distractions. Many of these problems are routed in the traditional method of reading you were taught as a child. By re-adjusting this method most of these problems are eliminated and you can become not only a faster reader but a better one.

MEMORY. The belief that memory worsens with age is a fallacy. In fact, the memory is like a muscle; the more it is used, the better it gets. And vice versa. So it is important to learn how to utilise your natural learning style to ease memory recall. According to the 80/20 rule which is taken from Perato’s Law (Alfredo Perato, Italy, 1895) the average person loses 80% of what is learnt within 24 hours, because it is not learned correctly. By learning the differing techniques and systems available to improve memory skills, you can ensure that facts learned are locked into long term memory.

HOW TO LEARN AND STUDY. Preparation is vital to any task. To enable effective learning to take place painlessly you must first prepare the mind. Accelerated learning techniques will show you how to gather information, without overload, sifting important information from the superfluous. The unique M.A.S.T.E.R. system will effectively enable you to fearlessly approach all future learning.

o M – Prepare the mind for learning

o A – Acquire the information

o S – Search out the meaning

o T – Trigger the memory

o E – Exhibit what you know

o R – Reflect on how you learned

An increasing number of companies are feeling the economic strain of providing necessary training, and are realising that much of the money invested in this vital area is not justified by the subsequent results. Returning to people who have attended courses after periods of one, three and six months, it is devastatingly apparent that very little of the course learning has been retained, and even less implemented. If 80% of learning is so rapidly lost it means that effectively 80% of the training budget is wasted. Therefore, it is essential that the basic skills of learning be absorbed first so that subsequent training is worthwhile. People need to have an understanding of how the brain works so that they can use it in the most effective way, and once they have established the skills incorporated within accelerated learning techniques they will find their life very much enhanced. Not only will it help them in their work but many other aspects of their life.

The best time to learn a foreign language differs from person to person and with circumstances. Still, it is possible to make some useful generalizations.

The best time to learn another language is as a child. If you learn a second or third language when you are young, before puberty, and you learn it from native speakers, you will learn to speak it naturally, without an accent. A “foreign” accent comes from the difficulties of overcoming the details of how you learned to speak your mother tongue.

Accents show up in people who learned a second language after puberty. Dr. Henry Kissinger, for example, speaks excellent English with a German accent. Although his knowledge of English is deep and thorough and his command of it is impeccable, he learned to speak English when he was 15, so his native German still comes through in his accent every time he speaks.

Apparently the “language centers” in the human brain take a “set” during puberty, lose flexibility and effectively dictate that the version of your mother tongue that you learned as a child is the only language you will truly be able to speak without an accent. Interestingly enough, philologists tell us that if you learn three languages before puberty, your language centers will remain adaptive and flexible. Anyone who has learned three languages as a child will be able to learn a fourth or fifth language later in life, and learn to speak it without an accent.

Knowing that doesn’t help us much as adults, but it may help us in educating our children and grandchildren.

For adults, the best time to learn a foreign language is just before you are going to have the opportunity to use it. If you learn it and don’t use it for a while, it will slip away from you and your abilities in that language will decline. (In my personal experience, if I am emersed in even a Spanish-speaking environment for 2-3 weeks, I notice an awkwardness and difficulty of speaking in my native English when I return to a place where I need to use it! The process has started and I have been forgetting my English! But it comes back… )

Fortunately, the easiest way to learn languages today is with modern interactive language training, in recorded digital format. You download the learning course in digital MP3 format, learn the language and then you can quickly refresh your knowledge at any time by just running rapidly through the course again.

If you get the course in MP3 format you can download it to your computer, then download to your iPod from there, or burn CD’s to play in any CD player.

Forget classrooms! Downloadable digital media goes with you, gives you the flexibility to learn a language at any time, at almost any place. You have charge of when you learn a language, and you know that your instructors are teaching with a perfect accent!

Going to Argentina? Take your iPod with you and spend the time on the plane learning Spanish, for use when you get there! Going to Europe? It’s a long flight across the pond. You could watch the movie, look at the ocean out the window or spend your time learning German or French!

And continue your learning in your spare time while you are there. You will find that since you get a chance to use it frequently, your learning will be sped up and you will tend to remember how to say….(whatever it was that you needed at that moment, in the language of that place!)

When you start to learn Spanish in traditional schools they give you a few basic words and quickly get into teaching you grammar, verb conjugation and vocabulary. But that’s putting form over substance! How to learn Spanish? or any language for that matter? Well, you already know one language. How did you learn that?

You learned English by listening to native speakers, imitating what they said and how they said it. You learned by conversing, trying to express your needs, your ideas, your observations. You learned how to talk first. You should approach learning Spanish the same way. That is why interactive courses using digital media are so effective and popular. They start you off with the basics of conversation; Hello, good morning – Hola, Buenos días, and go from there.

You don’t need to know the formal rules of grammar to converse, you just need to know how to say what you want to express. So you say it differently if you are speaking of more than one than you do if you are speaking of one only. You learned that as a child and did not even know the word grammar!

You learned to say “a dog” “two dogs” and “lots of dogs”. You learned it not by mastering the rules, but by knowing that’s how you say it if you want to be understood. One dog, two dogs. In other words, you got the substance first and the form later.

When you learned English you started out with simple sentences. Then gradually you learned more and more complex sentences and later, you got into the rules, the “Why” of saying it that way to be correct. But you had learned the language first, then used the rules to organize and improve what you already knew.

That makes sense, because the primary function of language is to communicate. Basic communication is more important than the rules of form. That’s why we learned it first in our first language. We should do it again with our second language!

It’s the same with learning Spanish. So good digital media learning courses use that method. Go directly to what you want to say, get the pronunciation right, converse, expand on that. Keep expanding. Go from idea directly to the expression of that idea. Don’t get hung up on rules. The formalization comes later.

The traditional methods of trying to first establish the rules, then learn the language within that framework is backwards and awkward. That makes learning a language boring and too much like work.

Digital media courses use the natural, conversational approach, making it easy and fun. Also, you get some conversational ability, something you can actually use, fast! That’s what makes them so superior to traditional methods of learning.

The idea is to approach your learning of a second language in the same manner you approached learning your first language. It’s the natural way. Consequently it is easier to absorb, makes more sense, lets you feel your abilities grow and expand.

This gives you a sense of accomplishment and greatly encourages you to keep on getting better. That is why digital media learning courses that use these methods are so effective in helping you learn fast and enjoy it!

Have you ever stopped to consider how you know what you know? In reality, you think, say, and do what you do because of what you have learned. Obviously, there have been some good lessons, some not-so-good ones, and even some lessons you seem to keep re-learning.

So what is going on when you learn? There are many words and metaphors for the idea of learning. We can talk about knowledge, ideas, information, wisdom, intelligence, IQ, street smarts, on-the-job training,
real-life experience, formal/informal learning, high school and college, and let’s not forget about the school of hard knocks. To me, knowledge is like a seed that you plant. If you value the learning process, you will plant your ideas and ask your questions with positive attention and conscious intention. You will enjoy watching your tiny seed grow into a big tree that continues to grow and branch out for an entire lifetime. You will get excited when you see new sprouts and connections burst forth.

I love learning, always have, always will. So much so, that my company name and logo is “Get Smart!” with a man and a woman reading a book under the tree of knowledge & wisdom. I am always surprised to learn that others don’t have the same desire to “get smart” as I do!
I believe that it is easier for people to stay in the comfort zone of “I already know everything I need to get by” rather than to develop the beginner’s mind of “I don’t know much about this but I am willing to learn.” You can easily look at someone’s lifestyle and see the person who has adopted the “lifelong learning” mind-set—they are more fulfilled, successful, and alive.

The truth is all human beings have an innate desire to learn and grow and stretch their minds, bodies, and souls, it’s just some people choose to make it more of a priority than others. Marie Evans said that,
“Learning is the jewel casting brilliance into the future.” Something newly learned is a beautiful and bright (albeit invisible) thing to behold and truly does change the course of our lives. What follows are the six stages of learning. Think of something you are now learning and find out which stage you are in.

Stage 1

Awareness

In the first stage, you take notice of the concept/idea because it raises your interest. You probably received the information from reading or hearing about it.
For example, when you first heard about the internet, you probably had a vague notion of what it might be, but had no direct experience with it.

Stage 2

Comparison

In the second stage, you often seek to compare it with something else you know something about. This helps you to categorize and place it logically. When you learned of the internet, you probably compared it with other forms of technology or communications as a means of filtration and organization.

Stage 3

Exploration

In the third stage, you begin to play around with the concept/idea. You try it on for size in your mind to
see if and where it fits. When you first went online to explore this thing called the internet, you began by “playing” with it, not taking it too seriously, in an effort to make the learning more enjoyable.

Stage 4

Application

In the fourth stage, you want to see how it applies to your own life. You start to do things with the information, such as write, talk, take a class, or somehow experience it. Now when you go on the internet, you are navigating to find useful information for your life.

Stage 5

Integration or Rejection

In the fifth stage, you either integrate or reject the original concept/idea. If you find the new knowledge useful, you will integrate it into your every day life. Again, if you found the internet valuable, you will be motivated to use it and integrate it. If not, you will decide to stop the learning process.

Stage 6

Creation

In the last stage, you have now developed additional insights about the original idea, and have a need to add, delete, or create something new based on your own storehouse of knowledge. For instance, you are now an internet afficienado, and decide to develop a software that allows people to make commissions from other people’s products or enables them to share their daily “blog.”

The term “”knowledge-based economy” is popular right now, and in today’s constantly changing world, a key to success is no doubt the ability to learn. Because those who keep learning, keep earning and keep living happy and interesting lives. Mark Twain once said,”There is no security in life, only opportunity.”
That being true now more than ever, the only real security we can give ourselves is a reserve of knowledge, experience, abilities, and a willingness to be a student of life, a person open to the awe of the world and who desires to learn something new every day.

Note the distinction about learning and learned. The learned person feels he has completed the course. The learning person knows that she is still in process. There is also a distinction between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is about thinking, studying, and regurgitating someone else’s thoughts. Wisdom is about observing, reflecting, and absorbing your own thoughts and ideas. True wisdom is applying what you have learned and learning through every life experience.
A Chinese proverb makes this very clear about learning, “To obtain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” The smart student knows when to let old ideas and information go, to consciously delete them in order to make room for the current ideas.
Just think about how internet dial-up is fast becoming a thing of the past and is being replaced with DSL. That is because someone thought of a better, faster way of doing the same thing. New ideas come and go as quickly as night and day. It will be the people who can take their creative ideas and go for it, who will succeed in our over-informed world. Know this. Knowledge will make you smart, but experience will make you wise. Remember—it is only through learning and growing that you can become wise—and it is a journey that you must take for yourself—it is not something that can be taught by someone else.

During the past couple of months, I have been privileged and overjoyed to have spent some time with my Brother and sister-in-law’s beautiful 6 month old baby. It is truly amazing to behold how she learns and develops.

While most of us are holding down jobs and/or raising children, and generally leading busy lives, learning things faster would be a very welcome skill to acquire. Wouldn’t you agree?

If you want to know how to accelerate your ability to learn, it is useful to engage in a little modelling of the most amazing learning machines in the world: Babies, toddlers and children. Seeing my niece developing so fast made me think. When we were children we learnt a phenomenal amount in a very short time, not just information and knowledge but also social skills, body-mind co-ordination and much, much more. So how did we do this?

I want to show you how to identify the right conditions for learning, so that you can once more be free to learn as effectively as you did when you were a small child.

So how did you manage it all those years ago? The first five years of your life represent the most amazing accelerated learning programme ever developed. Not all of this is necessarily “good”, of course, in terms of its usefulness later in life but certainly small children learn thoroughly and with every part of themselves. They learn without labelling what they are doing as learning. They begin to map out their world through the fullest use of all their senses every waking moment. This is truly total immersion learning. Everyone starts out as a fast learner. I mean everyone.

8 Steps To Fast Learning:

Step One: You have to want to learn.

When we are little, life is fascinating because everything is utterly new to us. We don’t yet have experiences or filters that tell us some things are more important or more worthwhile than others. Everything is new, everything gives us more to absorb.

Learning is highly meaningful for a number of reasons: because it is interesting, because it relates to some immediate goal, because it is rewarded, because it helps us to model someone who is important to us, because it gives us more autonomy, power or means of self-expression – and because we are curious and just want to know.

All these reasons give us important incentives to learn fast and learn well. The process of learning is something the learner actively wants to do.

So, make sure you are motivated – have a good reason for anything that you want to learn, and know what it is.

Step Two: Engage In The Moment.

Very small children pay a lot of attention to what is going on around them and what they are doing. They are not thinking about how today compares with yesterday or looking for references of similar experiences. Those concepts come later in life.

They are not distracting themselves. They can and do get distracted, but then they are totally immersed in the distraction. Attention is 100 per cent. They focus and are concentrated.

So, catch wandering thoughts. It may well help to write down things that require action later, so that you do not have to carry them alongside what you are currently doing. Having done so, bring yourself back to the here-and-now.

Step Three: Be immersed in the learning experience.

At those young ages, learning is done in a highly associated state which produces high neurological and physiological engagement and enables the learner to make huge strides very rapidly.

Choose your timing, and your setting, and your state to give yourself the best chance of becoming immersed. Cultivate the art of being fully associated in your experience. So really tune in, be aware of what you are seeing, hearing and feeling. This leads nicely on to our next step…

Step Four: Use all your senses when learning.

Children do not think about how they learn, or should learn. All their senses are on-line to pick up and process information.

This means that what they are learning can be encoded in multiple ways, making it more rapidly and effectively part of them.

Therefore, engage more of your senses in the act of consciously learning. Always consider how you can incorporate more of the senses into even formal learning using more visual, more auditory and more kinaesthetic stimulus. For instance, you could make notes, construct models and literally walk things through (kinaesthetic), create mind-maps, colourful visuals and use coloured pens (visual), or play music by Baroque composers such as Bach or Vivaldi, which has been shown to enhance concentration and learning (auditory).

Step Five: Your efforts are frequently praised or rewarded.

Very young children usually get plenty of praise for trying to do things, as well as for actually achieving them. You know when everyone delights at them doing something. Even if there comes a time when the grown-ups start to take their skills for granted, there has usually been a good grounding of positive encouragement for first efforts at sitting, crawling, and standing, talking and walking. With luck, a foundation has been laid, which can become the basis of self-encouragement in their willingness to take on the risk of trying new things.

Today, find ways to praise and reward yourself. Use encouraging internal dialogue. Break your goal down into stages and give yourself treats for accomplishing each stage.

Step Six: Free yourself of success and failure notions.

The early learning child or baby has not yet learnt to think in terms of “success” and “failure” – so they are not easily daunted when something does not work out. In fact, being frustrated is more likely to make them want to try again.

Very small children mostly do not get labelled as failures when they try something that does not work. Children’s first words, or first steps, are too exciting and too major for most adults to discount them as not good enough. A new walker who falls is likely to be encouraged to try again.

Be kind about your mistakes and limitations. People who endlessly criticise themselves tend to become disheartened. Those who forgive errors and lapses make much better progress.

Step Seven: Pace Yourself.

When they lose interest, or get tired, babies simply switch to something else or fall asleep. They have not yet learnt to pressurise themselves unduly or to make unreasonable demands of themselves.

Pace yourself- do not drive yourself too hard. Even when you are doing well – perhaps especially when you are doing well – have a break. And do not move the goalposts because you achieved something sooner or more easily than you expected.

Step Eight: Digest and process.

The early learner sleeps long and deep, which gives the unconscious mind time to process what has been learnt, and the body time to recover from exertion and build its strength.

Sleep is a major ingredient in successful learning, it allows the body to rest and repair itself after exertion. Mental exertion requires energy and stamina, so any kind of learning is potentially tiring. Learning is processed and stored unconsciously – which is why we relatively soon forget the actual processes that are involved in even complex skills like walking, talking or reading. And sleep is a time when the unconscious part of the mind is very active in processing new material and making connections.

Respect your body’s need for rest. Give yourself enough sleep time to process what you have learnt.

So, now we have seen the criteria for that kind of fast learning that babies and toddlers do. Think of ways that you can apply these seven simple steps to your own learning processes whenever and wherever they may be. Have some fun with this.