Introduction This Unit is designed to take you on a journey of understanding. You will be introduced to a variety of thinking skills and ways of extending and developing your thinking. You will begin by looking at why thinking skills are important in education, and what kinds of skills are valued. You will then move on to some practical strategies and ideas for further activities and reading.
5.5 Reflecting on what I have done differently — what was the effect? We hope that the activities in this section have helped you to bring to mind what you have learned. But we also want you to think about whether you have done anything differently from what you might have tried before starting the unit. In other words, we want you to ask yourself whether the unit has given you the confidence, or some ideas that have encouraged you, to take a bit of a risk, or, as Section 4 puts it, to step outside your comfort zone. Do not worry if you cannot say that yo
5.2 What have I learned about my knowledge? It is worth spending some time thinking back over what you have learned from the unit materials. The text and video have presented you with some challenging ideas and a wide range of perspectives. You have been asked to apply this to your own learning for change. As you look back over these, and at your responses to the activities, you will be reminded of the ground you have covered. It may be helpful to think briefly about the perspectives that were the focus of each section:
5.1 Introduction You have almost reached the end of Learning to change and we hope that you will continue to use learning to achieve change in your life. This section is an opportunity to reflect on what you have learned as a result of doing the unit. ‘Reflecting backwards’ is an important part of learning because it helps you to be clear about what you have learned. Looking back also enables you to hold on to what you have learned after the unit finishes. This means that you can ‘reflect
4.4.4 Specific You need to be quite clear what you are setting out to do. If you are not clear, your goal may be open to different interpretations and you may become unsure of what you intended. For example, suppose you chose a goal like ‘to get better at giving people feedback’. This could be interpreted in at least two ways:
4.4 Setting yourself goals At this point, you may be feeling that you are just not the sort of person who makes plans. You may think that devising plans sounds a bit mechanical, that your preference is to just go along with whatever life deals out. It can be good to take instant decisions and be ‘spontaneous’ and we would not want you to stop doing this, especially if you know, from your past experience, that this can add fun and enjoyment to your life. However, particularly for ‘big’ and important decisions it
4.2.2 Human capital theory This theory argues that the development of people as a resource (human capital) is as important in creating an internationally competitive country as the equipment to make things (industrial capital), or the money to set up new enterprises (financial capital). The need to develop the right sort of human capital can be seen to underpin many social, as well as economic, policies – education and training are prime examples of policy areas where human capital thinking is used to highlight the i
3.4.2 ‘Real world’ skills Although we are describing these as a separate set of skills, we hope that you can see the value of these skills in supporting your learning, as well as being important for many other aspects of your life. In this unit we have been focusing on: The next activity is similar to the one you have just done, but here the focus is o
3.3.1 Why it might be useful The main similarity between using academic theory and getting feedback is that both can offer you a perspective that may be different from your own. We have already seen how additional perspectives can be valuable in rounding out the understanding that you have about yourself. One possible big advantage with academic theory is that this additional perspective can come from someone who has become recognised as an expert or authority. Drawing on theory opens up the possibility of building on th
3.2.2 What problems might you have with getting feedback? Only you can answer this. However, you might think that you will not find it easy to ask someone else to be a mentor and give you feedback about your own qualities, knowledge or skills. There may be all sorts of reasons for this. You might not feel that you know anyone that you would trust to give you feedback in a way in which you would find helpful. Acting as a feedback giver can put someone in such a powerful position that you might feel uncomfortable. You might feel that you do not know a
3.1 Introduction This section is the second step in using learning to help you achieve your own personal goals for change and development. This second step is really about developing additional ways to build on the evidence you gathered about yourself in Section 2. In particular it considers how other people can help you change. There are two main aspects to this. The first is about involving other people so that you can get feedback from them and increase the depth of your own self-understanding. The second
References 2.7 Conclusion This section has asked you to do a great deal of work on gathering evidence about what qualities, knowledge and skills you already have. There are two main reasons why this is important if you are going to use learning in order to achieve change. First, it is really important for you to have the self-confidence to know that you can achieve change. The activities in this section have been designed to provide you with opportunities to build up this much clearer picture. Another important aspect 2.6.1 Referencing Referencing is a good way to illustrate this similarity. You will have noticed that when the unit refers to someone, the name and some other details (often a year and a page number) are given. An example in this section would be: Allen (2001, p. 24). Here, the year (2001) and a page number are provided because reference was being made to a particular aspect of this book. If the discussion had been about the book in general it would have been fine just to give the year. If you look at the list 2.4.6 Your communication skills The next activity is an opportunity to reflect on your own communication skills. Recognising which skills you already have and use is an important first step towards being able to value and develop them. If you are considering embarking on significant change then you will need to communicate with other people at some point. You may need to explain to people who are close to you what changes you are thinking about. Or you may need to use communication skills to enlist the help of other people. 2.4.5 Reflecting on communication skills Communication can be approached in terms of the skills needed to get a hoped-for response. By seeing communication in terms of skills, it is easier to focus on what skills you already have and use. Once you have a reasonably clear picture about this, it is much easier to see where you might want to act to increase your communication strengths and decrease any weaknesses. It can be useful to try assessing what you see as someone else’s communication skills before you think about your o 2.2 Everyday learning – what’s going on? This section will start with two examples of the sort of learning that occurs on an everyday basis. The aim here is to start you thinking about the ways in which learning goes on all the time. To illustrate this, read Jim’s story. As you read, you might like to begin to think about whether any aspects of Jim’s story might also be a part of your ‘story’. (In this context, we are using the word ‘story’ to mean what has happened in your life so far. We are not using it to mean someth 2.1 Introduction This unit is about using learning to bring about personal change. This assumes that learning can help achieve such change. Section 2 aims to be the first step in showing you how this is possible. This section has three separate but related aspects: 1.6 Conclusion At the start of this section, there was a list of what we hoped you would get from your study of this section. To save you looking back, the aims of the section were to: It would be useful to think back over this list before moving on to section 1.5.2 Planning your study time One of the most difficult aspects of being a student is fitting in your studying with everything else in your life. This is why this unit focuses on organisational skills including time management. It is important both to find enough time to study and then to try to make the most effective use of your time. Finding enough time can be quite a challenge! It often means giving up some activities you currently enjoy or perhaps negotiating with your family and friends to pass on some of the daily
