What is learning.

My definition. (as asked for without thinking too much)

"Learning is the process of defining and redefining my knowledge skills and behaviours to the internal and external world around me. It helps me to understand who I am, what I do and how and why I do it. It can change the way I think or feel or do. It is a continual cycle"

Why this definition? I thought about all the times that I say 'I learned'. Normally this applies when I think or feel differently about a person or a subject. Often it is as a result of the experiences that I have. Also, I think that my working life has been a very social one. I worked for many years in the pub industry, and now work with volunteers. It is very people and social orientated. Therefore I learn by interacting with the world.

My teaching others was about learning by doing. So, I might show someone how to pull a pint, or to cash up, or to clean a floor...and then they learn how to deal with customers, make decisions etc, by me mentoring them, giving them support to be more confident. I often talk about learning by stealth. For me this is about giving people opportunities to be empowered and to make their own decisions. This way they learn to do what they think is right. and if they do it wrong, they learn for next time. Trial and error. But also that they/I don't dwell too much on the fact that it has gone wrong. So when they learn they are doing something - evolving -  mastering a skill or becoming a leader/manager.

This empowerment perspective, I have realised, is the way I like to learn. I don't like people telling me I need to attend this training or that training. I like options - to choose what is important to me. I might indeed learn something - but I might not enjoy it. A lot of my learning for work has been self directed. If I am going to do this job to the best of my ability, then I need to know about this, type thing. I want to know why it's like that, why did they act that way, what are the motivationals, how can I use it, how does that work for me. So if I think about what that is, the learning is learning something new, applying knowledge/skills/emotions in a new way, or in a new environment or with new people. Or it could be applying it in a better way - eg. getting quicker at doing something. I think this is why I loved Nardi and Days ecology metaphor.

So learning to me is intrinsically linked to who I am as a person and how I perceive things. I am sure that it's more than that, but that's my initial reaction!