CCK09 Your learning theory in use

You already have a learning theory you use everyday. We all do. It's something that makes it possible to learn when it's not happening easily. Our "learning theories in use" explain what happened, give us something else to try and compare ourselves to others.

Your learning theory may tell you when is a really good time to learn something compared to other times, as well as how important or unimportant the timing is. Your learning theory may explain why you forgot something you wanted to remember or how you got the facts turned around when you already had the ideas right in your mind. You may be able to explain how others learn more or faster than you can, or the reverse where you're the one learning more and faster.

Your learning theory gets called upon when it has become evident that you did not try hard enough to learn something. Your theory will suggest what to do again with more determination, discipline and endurance. It may also prioritize among your options for how to take a different approach to get a better result. Your learning theory may explain the differences between learning endeavors that come easily and those that turn into struggles. It may give you a sense of what to avoid and what to pursue with no motivation problems.

Your learning theory will also reject ideas that seem absurd, impractical or unfounded. Your theory endures because it provides you with stability, confidence, familiarity and resourcefulness in the face of varied challenges, setbacks and progress. Without your learning theory, you'd always be disoriented, insecure and afraid to learning anything else.

Your learning theory in use may need an upgrade. You may have jumped to conclusions about "what's wrong with your ability" or "how you compare unfavorably to others". Your theory may rule out very effective alternatives that make learning lots more fun, energizing, adventurous and rewarding.

Your learning theory in use does not change by learning to talk about new theories. The changes come about by reflecting on how and why things happened to you, for you and with you. By rethinking your explanations, inclinations and resignations, your learning theory in use can be revised to better serve you. With that much familiarity with your own learning theory, just think how you could connect to others' learning theories is use too.