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Lifelong Learning Unit 5

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80 views5 pages

Lifelong Learning Unit 5

Uploaded by

vanya.gupta24
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LIFELONG LEARNING

In the words of Mark Twain, “Never let formal education get in the way of
your learning”. That’s the essence of lifelong learning. When you’re in a
constantly evolving world, it requires you to level up or you get left behind. As
humans, we have a penchant for evolving – learning new skills, habits or
hobbies. Our ability to learn is innate. It just depends on how we utilize this
knowledge.

Having that said, lifelong learning is more than just about killing the time to
keep your mind active. It can help enhance your professional or personal
development

#NOTE: Highlighted paragraphs to be written in notebook

What is Lifelong Learning? (continuous learning)

Lifelong learning is a form of self-initiated education that is focused on


personal development. It generally refers to the learning that takes place
outside of a formal educational institute such as a school, university or
corporate training. It is best described as being voluntary with a purpose of
achieving personal fulfillment.
This type of personal learning is often referred to as continuous learning

Importance of lifelong learning


Whether pursuing personal interests and passions or chasing professional
ambitions, lifelong learning can help us to achieve personal fulfillment and
satisfaction. It recognizes that humans have a natural drive to explore, learn
and grow and encourages us to improve our own quality of life and sense of
self-worth by paying attention to the ideas and goals that inspire us.

We’re all lifelong learners.

Lifelong learning recognizes that not all of our learning comes from a
classroom.
● For example, in childhood, we learn to talk or ride a bike.
● As an adult, we learn how to use a smartphone or learn how to
cook a new dish.
These are examples of the everyday lifelong learning we engage in on a daily
basis, either through socialization, trial and error, or self-initiated study.
Personal fulfillment and development refer to natural interests, curiosity, and
motivations that lead us to learn new things. We learn for ourselves, not for
someone else.

Key checklist for lifelong learning:

● Voluntary
● Self-motivated or self-initiated
● Doesn’t always require a cost
● Often informal
● Self-taught or instruction that is sought
● Motivation is out of personal interest or personal development.

Examples of lifelong learning Here are some of the types of lifelong learning
initiatives that you can engage in:
● Developing a new skill (eg. sewing, cooking, programming,
public speaking, etc)
● Self-taught study (eg. learning a new language, researching a topic
of interest, subscribing to a podcast, etc)
● Learning a new sport or activity (eg. Joining martial arts, learning
to ski, learning to exercise, etc)
● Learning to use a new technology (smart devices, new software
applications, etc)
● Acquiring new knowledge (taking a self-interest course via online
education or classroom-based course)

Benefits of lifelong learning


Incorporating lifelong learning in your life can offer many long-term benefits,
including:
1. Renewed self-motivation
Sometimes we get stuck in a rut doing things simply because we have to do
them, like going to work or cleaning the house.

Figuring out what inspires you puts you back in the driver’s seat and is a
reminder that you can really do things in life that you want to do.
2. Recognition of personal interests and goals
Re-igniting what makes you tick as a person reduces boredom, makes life more
interesting, and can even open future opportunities.

You never know where your interests will lead you if you focus on them.

3. Improvement in other personal and professional skills


While we’re busy learning a new skill or acquiring new knowledge, we’re also
building other valuable skills that can help us in our personal and professional
lives.

This is because we utilize other skills in order to learn something new. For
example, learning to sew requires problem-solving. Learning to draw involves
developing creativity.

Skill development can include interpersonal skills, creativity, problem-solving,


critical thinking, leadership, reflection, adaptability and much more.

4. Improved self-confidence
Becoming more knowledgeable or skilled in something can increase our
self-confidence in both our personal and professional lives.

● In our personal lives, this confidence can stem from the satisfaction
of devoting time and effort to learning and improving, giving us a
sense of accomplishment.
● In our professional lives, this self-confidence can be the feeling of
trust we have in our knowledge and the ability to apply what
we’ve learned.

Organizational lifelong learning


Sometimes lifelong learning is used to describe a type of behavior that
employers are seeking within the organization. Employers are recognizing that
formal education credentials are not the only way to recognize and develop
talent and that lifelong learning may be the desired trait.
Thanks to the fast pace of today’s knowledge economy, organizations are
seeing lifelong learning as a core component in employee development. The
idea is that employees should engage in constant personal learning in order to
be adaptable and flexible for the organization to stay competitive and relevant.

This type of personal learning is often referred to as continuous learning.

Do I need to be proactive about lifelong learning?

Most people will learn something new at some point in their daily routine just
by talking with other people, browsing the internet based on personal interest,
reading the newspaper, or engaging in personal interest.

However, if making more effort to learn something new is important for either
personal, family, or career reasons, or there is a need for a more organized
structure, then here are some steps to get started.

How to adopt lifelong learning in your life?

1. Recognize your own personal interests and goals


Lifelong learning is about you, not other people and what they want.
Reflect on what you’re passionate about and what you envision for your own
future.
If learning history is your passion, there are likewise ways to explore this
interest further.
2. Make a list of what you would like to learn or be able to do
Once you’ve identified what motivates you, explore what it is about that
particular interest or goal that you want to achieve.
Returning to our example of someone having a passion for history, perhaps it is
desired to simply expand knowledge on the history of Europe. Or perhaps the
interest is so strong that going for a Ph.D. is a dream goal.
Both of these are different levels of interest that entail different ways of
learning.

3. Identify how you would like to get involved and the resources available
Achieving our personal goals begins with figuring out how to get started.
Researching and reading about the interest and goal can help to formulate how
to go about learning it.
With our history example: the person who wants to simply learn more about a
particular historical time period could discover books in the library catalog,
blogs, magazines and podcasts dedicated to the subject, or even museums and
talks.
The individual who wanted to achieve A Ph.D. in history as a personal goal
could research university programs that could be done part-time or online, as
well as the steps one would need to take to reach the doctorate level.

4. Structure the learning goal into your life


Fitting a new learning goal into your busy life takes consideration and effort.
If you don’t make time and space for it, it won’t happen.
It can easily lead to discouragement or quitting the learning initiative
altogether.
Plan out how the requirements of the new learning initiative can fit into your
life or what you need to do to make it fit.
For example, if learning a new language is the learning goal, can you make
time for one hour a day? Or does 15 minutes a day sound more realistic?
Understanding the time and space you can devote to the learning goal can help
you to stick with the goal in the long run.

5. Make a commitment
Committing to your decision to engage in a new learning initiative is the final
and most important step.
If you’ve set realistic expectations and have the self-motivation to see it
through, commit to it and avoid making excuses.

Videos
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXFRI08dwAg
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NljvcJUoNt4
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbPs3WA6tLg
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV6pMObHVLA

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