How to Learn - eBook 3

Choosing and Using Different Ways to Learn

There is no single best way to learn.

Reading a book might be perfect for one purpose, while another might be better served by talking to an expert, practising a skill, conducting research, travelling somewhere, watching someone else, joining a group or simply having a go.

How to Learn helps young people and the adults supporting them think more deliberately about how learning happens – and choose approaches that fit the learner, what they want to learn and the circumstances.

Written by Dr Ian Cunningham, it combines the principles of Self Managed Learning with a comprehensive, practical guide to different learning methods and techniques.

What's Inside

The book is divided into two parts.

Part One: Making Thoughtful Choices About Learning

Explore how to:

• Choose appropriate ways to learn

• Help young people become active learners

• Support decision-making without taking over

• Consider preferences without labelling young people with fixed 'learning styles'

• Choose tactics and methods according to the learning goal

• Build a wider repertoire of ways to learn

Part Two: A Reference Guide to Methods and Techniques

A detailed guide to a wide range of ways learning can happen, covering:

• Diagnostic and review methods

• Directed, structured and formal methods

• Interactive and less formal approaches

• Open and informal learning

• Solo activities

Different methods are explored with examples, advantages and possible limitations, making this a book you can return to whenever a young person needs another route into their learning.

Who is it for?

This book is for parents, mentors and other adults who support young people with their learning.

It's also particularly useful for educators and people developing or running learning communities who want a broad, practical understanding of the many different ways learning can happen.

The Self Managed Learning Series

This is Book 3 of the three-part Self Managed Learning Series.

Book 1 explores how adults can support young people to manage their own learning.

Book 2 asks what may be worth learning in order to lead a good life.

Book 3 brings the series to its practical conclusion by asking: how can that learning happen?

It can be read independently or as part of the complete series.

Want the complete framework? Buy all three books together with the Complete Self Managed Learning Series bundle and save compared with purchasing them individually.