Ready or not...

Nope, not about hide ‘n’ seek…

In my first journal post, I shared that while I like knowing stuff, the learning journey is sometimes difficult for me. That’s a nice way of saying that I periodically just get frustrated or angry – at myself, the content, the instructor, other students, that one of my socks is sagging while the other is fine and it’s distracting me, I’m too hot, too cold, need a Pepsi or a more comfortable chair… perhaps an exaggeration, but I’ll let you guess about that!

That said, I do sometimes get frustrated because I don’t understand, am challenged in a way I wasn’t expecting, or maybe things don’t work out quite like I anticipated. Sometimes, I just wasn’t as ready as I thought I was.

It’s quite common for learners and the learning process to be emotional. We often don’t recognize this in adults because, overall, adults tend to manage their emotional response better than children. Note that I said overall, and tend to… Sometimes we don’t, and we get caught in a spiral of resisting new ideas. Translated to the workplace, we may need to engage with new policies, cope with organizational change, work with new managers or coworkers, adjust our communication styles to work more effectively, or do something else that requires us to learn a new or adapted way of doing things. Even positive things like engaging in continuous improvement initiatives can contribute to emotional responses that impact learning in the workplace. If you have felt that coping with the learning curve change requires makes life harder, not better, you’re not alone in that frustration.

Readiness is a learning characteristic that is sometimes overlooked, yet essential for learning to take place. Consider the following:

1.      Cognitive readiness – this is about having the foundational knowledge to learn something new, while also having the ability to understand and process new knowledge. Background knowledge is the building block for new learning. Example: learning to write in sentences comes before learning to write a journal post. If someone is frustrated, maybe there was an assumption they had prior knowledge that they didn’t have – try introducing a pre-concept first to test the knowledge of an individual or group, which might help you know where to start and assist in finding an easier way to navigate to more complex concepts.

2.      Physical readiness – The question we’re looking to answer here is whether we have the motor skills we need to learn something new – essential in children, but also important for youth and adults learning hands-on skills or tasks that require physical coordination – like learning to change a tire, knit a pair of mittens, use a computer, or operate a piece of machinery. Both fine and gross motor skills are key in many roles and require repeated practice. In sports, we might call it muscle memory – we do something over and over in practice, to prepare for doing it in real time. Practice makes permanent, so ensuring we practice the right things in the right way with our bodies is important and ensures physical readiness for the next step in learning something new or with increased complexity.

3.      Motivation/Attitude – When we are intrinsically (internally) motivated to learn something because it’s relevant to us, our readiness to learn is enhanced. I don’t like coffee, so I’ve never really been motivated to learn how to use a coffee maker. I really like hot chocolate, so I have several ways to make it or augment it for special occasions – I like cinnamon on top (that was an accidental find), or I like stirring it with a candy cane at Christmas for a bit of mint flavouring. I learned to do that because it was relevant to me, and thus I was motivated to find different ways to enjoy it. When learning is relevant to us, then we’re more motivated to learn. Answering why (relevancy) we’re learning something is an important precursor to learning itself and can significantly influence learning success.

4.      Emotional readiness – Emotional stability and the ability to be resilient and maintain positivity when challenged are key attributes in individuals who embrace learning. If we’re anxious, stressed, or resistant to learning – whether format, content, or perhaps the person teaching or facilitating – our emotional response can quickly limit our ability to process or even accept new information. Emotional response is tricky in learners – we often don’t realize that an internal resistance to learning can cause fear, insecurity, or even aggression, all of which impact our ability to really hear, engage, and think through new concepts or ideas.

I have worked with lots of learners. By far, the learners who are the most successful in building their skills demonstrate more than cognitive and physical readiness; they are motivated to learn, and are emotionally ready – that is, they are not discouraged by doing hard things, or recover from discouragement relatively quickly, and are willing to work through the intimidation that new ideas and differing views and experiences bring.

Knowing feels good. Learning feels hard. As with many things, it’s not an either-or discussion – it can be both – but to keep on knowing, we need to keep on learning.

Are you ready to learn?

Ready, set, go!

Dana

p.s. Share your learner readiness story with me at dana@trellispathways.com.

Resources:
The Crucial Role of Readiness and Maturation in Learning Success https://teachers.institute/learning-learner-development/readiness-maturation-learning-success/

 Understanding Learner Readiness: The Key to Unlocking Student Potential https://www.positiveaction.net/blog/what-is-learner-readiness-and-why-it-matters

 5 Principles for the Teacher of Adults https://www.thoughtco.com/principles-for-the-teacher-of-adults-31638