Social Learning: Group Study vs Studying Alone

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether the station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show."- Charles Dickens.

Now here Dickens extends his arm towards the passageway within, welcoming you to enter what promises to be an entertaining story. Same is the case here dear readers. The topic sentence and the topic itself might not be intriguing but believe me, by the time you reach the climax, you are sure to articulate something worth promising.

Basic Problem

One debate question for students that never seems to go away that, "Should I study alone or in a group?"
As social learning has become more popular in today's teamwork focused environment, group study sessions encourage an exchange of ideas. With a group, someone inevitably understands the work best, so they can teach each other and move further ahead. At the same time, Leaders cement their knowledge by teaching others. In a manner of understanding, group boost your motivation as you tend to study harder out of fear of holding the group back. Now for some competitive people, groups even motivate members o beat each other's knowledge.
Therefore, it can be tempting to see benefits and focus solely on group study but it is indeed important for students to not neglect solitary study either.

Don't Neglect Solitary Study

Focus on Personalized Learning

When we study on our own, we can easily focus on our weaknesses and amend the that are lacking. I speak from personal experience. Last year probably, I struggled with many science subjects in college. I often had a feeling like the Teacher was three steps ahead of me. This was not the fault of Teacher who was trying to deliver the same experience to 50 students-but not all of us were at same level. Here personalized learning comes in the picture.
Guys always remember, no two or three people have same weaknesses. You can easily motivate yourself through your interaction with group-mates or just by opting to positive environment of the group. If not possible, get the heck of here or just focus on personalized Learning.

Studying Alone for Better Focus

Now jumping towards the negative aspects-Awwwwwww. Just for interpretation, you are distracted in a group easily. I was just emphasizing because on our own, we are always aware when we are off topic or when our minds drift. Sometimes as a member of group, we feel as though we are studying but in reality, we are way off the topic. After all, who among us hasn't watched a group conversation evolve away from the intended topic? By the time we realize we are not working, we have wasted more time.
In the same way, efficiency in group study falls sideways. Suppose when a big test is looming near, efficiency should be a serious priority that goes unfulfilled when you only study with classmates or friends.

Personalized learning Goals at Your Own Risk 

Some people tend to sit back in a group and let others do the work, while they try to follow the pace that is either too fast for them to keep up or slow for them to lose interest. Mostly in a group we instinctively mimic others' opinions and tend towards group opinions. At the same time we lose track of our own questions and difficulties. We succumb to peer pressure, because we don't want to draw attention to our divergence from the group resultantly losing opportunities for Learning as we study.
 While the team of dawoods1 hope, you take out time for individual study but just don't break out your study groups just yet. Both studying alone and in a group stimulate our brains in an important and separate ways. The key is balance. Make sure to get enough time in group studies, but don't forget to set aside to study on your own as well. Which one do you prefer? Let me know in the comments.

Freaked Out...

I am completely freaked out now guys... But before any abuse please hear me out. Due to some personal issues, I had been away for about 3 or 4 months. But the good news is, I am back. Now coming back to you freaks. This here seems a joke but 4000 readers is totally a milestone. THANK YOU so much all of you. You all made this happen. Keep supporting and well will try to improve our quality. The team is very hardworking and is always busy in improving standards. Take care now...

Author and Publisher,

Raja Dawood.

Tactics to Theoretical Learning

While travelling through daily path of life, have you ever stumbled upon a hidden pocket of universe? Have you ever suddenly encountered a simple yet and intriguing riddle while doing something usual? Because if this ever happened, you are absolutely on a path to life-long learning. About a month ago, to my embarrassment, I learned I'd been tying my shoe laces wrongly this whole time. That is why I always advise my readers to never step away from a learning opportunity.

Theoretical Learning

"To know, is to know that you know nothing, that is the meaning of true knowledge", which I believe is rightly said by Socrates. Learning itself has very vast meaning and is directly related to different ways of acquiring knowledge. Hence in a broader sense, Learning theories are conceptual framework that describe how students absorb, process and retain knowledge during the Learning process.

Theories of Theoretical Learning

Online classrooms have completely changed the face of Learning. But Learning theories that  inform traditional education methods still stand for some individuals. Here are four main Learning theories with their demonstration regarding modern curriculum:

1- Behaviorism

This method of Learning centers around the mea
surable and predefined goals. It also forms the basis for many and most popular types of Learning among students and teachers. While education and Art of Learning has changed dramatically, this method is still useful while learning theoretically.

2- Cognitivism

Cognitivism works on the theory of consciousness, conversation, decision making and emotion which focuses on mental process that are essential to cognitive development. The main idea is that if we understand Learning we are likely to find more sense and consistency when we search for new knowledge and along with previous knowledge as well.
Like behaviorism and cognitivism is very relevant in digital age since many students take up online Learning in effort to delve deeper into knowledge they acquired through traditional learning. Hence students who indulge themselves in this theory can easily blend their new Learning experience with knowledge they already possess.

3- Constructivism 

Basically constructivism emphasizes the importance of influences free from personal will and human consciousness. For many people working in education are well aware that social element is the key to intricate Learning in the classroom. When it comes to online education, this element of theoretical learning is more relevant than ever because online learning demands collaboration and group study where students can create online forms, blogs and innovate knowledge on top of preexisting ideas.

4- Connectivitism

This here my readers is a newer method of Learning, which gives students more autonomy in the way they choose to Learn. Today there is more broadness in terms of course content and how it is assessed therefore giving students and tutors more vital chances of assessing the interactivity to give feedback in shape of result along the way. The initiative of embracing connectivitism to introduce Learning environment should be taken by the teachers. This is much like constructivism which embraces collaboration in students naturally.
Many new Learning methods are intertwined in the digital age of Lost Generation. But no matter what theories you are familiar with, today's students can Learn any method with assurance as they are all relevant in world of internet.

Importance of Theoretical Learning

I think those who have advanced to furthest in life tend to be those who acquire knowledge at both ends of spectrum and acquire it in variety of ways. Theoretical knowledge helps you understand why one technique works and the other fails. Where self-education is concerned, theory prepares you to set  direction of your future education. At this point, I combine my stance to a contradiction that theoretical Learning teaches us from the experience of others.Theoretical knowledge can also lead to deeper understanding of concept through seeing it in the context of greater whole and understanding the why, who, where, when or what behind it.

Summary

Now as I've already emphasized that there is a theoretical and practical side to knowledge. The true masters of craft or discipline understand both ends of spectrum. They put hours to acquire practical techniques while also putting their time to understand the techniques which fit into larger frame, context or tradition or why they work. So in the light of this influence, try to think on the edge. Do you need to start living the right way? How do you best Learn? Will you be able to pick theory and context on your own? Do you need more time gaining the practical experience?

Only you can answer those questions and only you can determine which path to start out on. But focusing your attention to one side while ignoring the others will limit you in ways you may not even realize. Do you agree or disagree? Comment below...

Your Feedback

Oh My God...

You guys are totally insane. During past two weeks dawoods1 received 674 views...
This truly is amazing for its beyond any expectation. Thank you soooo much. And believe me, 85% was the international audience. Your love and interest motivates me to do so much more. Keep reading and enjoying for there are many more to come. Plz comment your response below and let me know if there is something missing. If you enjoyed this blog post, share it with a friend. Take care now...
Author and Publisher,
Raja Dawood.

Learning is a Learned Behavior

Learning is a Learned Behavior

Many people mistakenly believe that learning(the ability to learn) is a matter of intelligence. For them, Learning is just an immutable trait like eye color, hair color or just a luck of a genetic draw. That simply indulges me to a contradiction that people are born Learners. So why bother getting better at it? But we all respond to certain behaviors under different conditions. Some of these are innate and some are learned.

Learned Behavior

The main thing to remember in such dilemma is that behavior is the response to a stimulus. Basically Learned behaviors are changes during one's(life-long learners) lifetime. Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is theory of Learning based on idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning and experimentation. And conditioning occurs through interaction with environment. Learned behavior or a change in behavior occurs due to result of life experience which I presume is easily understandable my readers mainly comprising of inspired life-long learners. This change in behavior includes,

• habituation
• sensitization
• classical conditioning
• operand conditioning
• observational learning
• insight learning

How Learning Indulges with Behaviorism

Some people do not think about developing the area of mastery without tending to approach the topic of Learning itself. They use phrases like, "practice makes perfection", without even considering proper learning strategy at play. I personally think that its a remarkably ill-defined expression because I have thought about it literally. Does practice means repeating the same skill again and again? Should practice be hard or fun?
A growing body of research is implying that Learners are made, not born. Through deliberate use of  skills and dedication, we can improve our learning strategies in other word we can improve our learned behaviorism.

Extraordinary Research Work

 Learning strategies can be more important than raw smarts when it comes to gaining expertise. A well-defined research done by Marcel Veeman has deployed that people who closely track their thinking will outscore individuals with high IQ when it comes to Learning something new or understanding the non-understandable. They are 15 points more innate and involved in Learning than normal people. Now a question is put forward by our intellects that what can be done to attain such intelligence. Well a and intrinsic way to do that is to,

1. Organizing your Goals

In order to develop an area of expertise, we have to organize our goals for success which are to be achieved in future aside from our personal contradictions. A targeted approach to Learning helps to cope with upcoming challenges. Following are associated with self commitment such as, Am I good enough?
What if I'm wrong? Isn't there something I'd rather be doing than this?
Some objectives have been added here SMARTly,

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Result Focused
• Time Focused

Now sufficiently measurable goals are,

1. Skill Acquisition
2.  Knowledge Acquisition
3. Personal Goals
4. Professional Goals
5. Career Knowledge
6.  Result Orientation

While some self-carpeting is normal, these sort of negative emotions can quickly rob us out of ability to Learn something new. Plus we are more committed if we develop a plan with clear objectives. The research points discussed above are over-whelming at this point. Simply by setting targets, people can manage their skills more easily and effectively.

2. Thinking about Thinking

The process of thinking about one's own thinking is often called meta cognition. Broadly speaking, its the process of becoming more instinctive and thinking about what can be thought. Its basically asking oneself about where the hell do I get these ideas? Could I explain it to anyone? Should I get more background knowledge? 

This here comes to experts more effectively than trainees. They often think about how the problem got busted in first place. Do I have good sense of whether this problem seems more reasonable to ones answered before? At the end it all turns out to be that leave it to the experts. They don't push
themselves to think about thinking.

3. Reflect your Learning 

There is necessarily something of contradiction in Learning. It turns out to be quite habitual to let go of learning for Life-long Learning. Come on fellows, this here is not a joke for Learning should be our part and parcel for intimidate success. If a problem gets you, get into a discussion with a colleague or read a manual related to your problem which will surely wash away the argument out of further involvements. 

In short, beneficial Learning froms reflection of whats already done. Also sometimes it only takes a quite and when I say quite I mean a moment of introspection in solitude. Now get ready for whats coming at you....

Ready? Sleep is also a fascinating example in such stance. WHAAAAT...

Well reader, its possible that our brain tidies up our knowledge while we are napping. A recent study has shown that a good shut eye can surely reduce our practice time to 50%. 

Now the good news for you my reader is that,                                                                                                                "Learning has been proved as a Learned Behavior."

By deliberately organizing your Learning Goals, Thinking about Thinking and Learning on Opportune Times you can become a better study too.

Your Opinion

Now when that's all over with, I hope you have enjoyed reading this article. But I would love to know how Learning has changed your behavior for others. I as an optimist believe that Learning changes a person thoroughly. This here is a platform for dear readers to share their life story or success story. Your opinion matters the most. Your interest and constant appreciation motivates me to do much more.

Author and Publisher,
Raja Dawood.

Learning Requires Faliure

Learning Requires Failure

Now this won't be too enthusiastic for you but in the light of a personal experience,  I think that failure is not the end of the world. But the fear to fail might direct you away from success. If a person has failed in past, the fear of failing again might keep him away from future embarrassment. I comprehend failure to be an inherent part of a remarkably successful person. J.K. Rowling is an inspiration to us all and I have read most of her work but this quote here truly fits the frame,

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might have not lived at all, in which case you have failed by default."

Why Failure is Important

I'd rather say that failure is an important part of life because without failure, we'd be less capable of experience, empathy, kindness, capability and we would be less likely to reach for the moon and stars. Failure teaches you about yourself. You would be capable of doing much more if you know yourself. Your failure means that you have specs of courage and power to endure. Now at the certain for my readers, there is something I'd like to confess...

I have failed so many times in my life than I can admit. And believe me, I am not talking about small failures but the ones that completely rock your world and if you are anything like me, you have also likely failed many times. Now I won't say that I like anyone of you enjoy failing, but failure through its life-altering lessons make us a better person.

Failure is a Process Not a Destination

Food for thought, there is a movement in education that signifies and promotes failure. No one actually wants to fail but failing is inevitable if you are doing something worth doing, something indefatigable and something amazing. Many of you now would be thinking about why failure is not a destination but as we know destination is the end of a journey. So when failure is destination, there's nothing more to achieve and your start becomes the end. Failure is another event in course of life. Experiencing I or 100 failure does not make you a failure. Failure is just an opportunity to learn more often.

What can we Learn from Failure

I am so motivated by Winston Churchill as he aptly said,

"Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never give in. Nothing great or small, large or pretty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to overwhelming might of the enemy."

I would love to hear your opinion about my ideas on this blog. If failure has shaped you, I would love to hear it,

1. Failure teaches us lessons
2. Failure redefines your priorities in life
3. Failure makes you strong
4. Failure instills courage
5. Failure creates perseverance
6. Failure spawns creativity
7. Failure teaches resilience
8. Failure makes you more compassionate
9. Failure forces you to re devise your approach
10. Failure makes you realize success isn't everything
11. Failure makes you more passionate about your goal
12. Failure develops your deeper sense of community 

Your Opinion

 How has failure shaped you?
This here is an open platform for anyone to share his/her success story. You are always welcome and appreciated here. Please comment and your point of view. There's always room for improvement here.

Author and Publisher,

Raja Dawood.

Learning and Performance

Learning and Performance

From our childhood, we are led into believing that performance is the result of learning because performance affects learning in positive manner. Even our traditional education system has been actively devised on this concept. As our thinking methodology is influenced by thinking, our performance is the outcome of learning. But apart from what we think, there are times when learning influences performance in an undesirable manner.

Relative Distinction

You need to make your mind when you develop your learning strategy. This is basically the main delirium of this article. First of all you need to choose between performance and learning goals.

Performance Goals:

Performance goals are shot-term objectives set for specific duties or task in your current position. They help you to know what is expected from you in current position. With these goals your priority is to get good marks, avoid unfavorable judgments, out-perform others and avoid being perceived as incompetent. Listed below are few personal performance goals:

1. Embrace empathy
2. Confidence
3. Listen actively
4. Make fear your friend
5. Improve your body language
6. Get along with others
7. Get along with yourself
8. Stop procrastinating
9. Become more proactive
10. Let go off the past
11. Become a conflict resolver
12. Read more. Read often
13. Become more resilient
14. Start stress management
15. Ignore your limitations
16. Increase your will power
17. Become more mindful

When you emphasis performance goals, it is likely that you will try to avoid challenges unless you are certain of success. Try to be smart because a goal without a plan is just a wish.

Smart 

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Timely

Learning Goals

Learning goals are the backbone of a lesson or a concept because it provides the reason for learning and teaching it. This usually begins from your specific selection of a subject, lesson, topics or a lecture. Articulating the learning goals of your course is essential for delivering and assessing it. In broader terms, I will merely define education goals for learners. These the statements that describe the competence, attributes and skills must possessed by a student at the end of a course, program, class or a practical. These are specific statements intended for students attainment of a skill or what I like to call a miracle for survival. Learning goal is the heart of assessment of learning and definitely needs to be made at planning stage. Now this is where I quote martin Luther King,

"The purpose of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of education."

Now outlined is the classification of learning goals through cognitive process involved
in minds of our learners,

1. Knowledge
2. Comprehension
3. Application
4. Analysis
5. Synthesis
6. Evaluation
7. Remember
8. Understand
9. Apply
10. Analyze
11. Create

Now some extra tips to ensure that you are on the right track

• Align learning assessment with your learning objectives
• Remember to use specific and familiar terms while writing your goals
• Make sure to specify learning and performance goals via distinguished objectives
• Try to ask yourself if your learning objectives are achievable and comparable to performance goals
• Organize them in sub-categories to make them shorter and simply applicable to your satisfaction criterion 

Why Learning is Important

Why Learning is Important

Learning is defined as relative lasting chance in behavior that is the result of experience. Learning widens your horizons, enhances your knowledge and constantly keeps you up to date with the current world. I personally suggest lifelong learning to many people because you can grow as a person during the process. Moreover you can always develop your knowledge base and improve for better which can get you access to different opportunities and fresh new experiences.

Skills are Learned NOT Earned

I am a man of strict motive and I strongly believe that to survive in this harsh lifetime, one must be an active learner and a skillful person. This world we are living in is a hell for an unskilled person. Because only a person with intrinsic motivation and a particular skill can adapt to changing world economy. Well at conclusion to this point, I might as well share some common workman skills:

1- Collaboration an Teamwork

2- Creativity and Imagination

3- Critical Thinking

4- Problem Solving

5- Teamwork and Delegation

6- Confidence

7- Self-Management 

8- Decision Making

Your Purpose in Life and Determination of Path

A specific term "college and career readiness" has been used over couple of decades when addressing
purpose and path of life. This concept refers to development of perseverance, growth of mindset and enhancement of believe that we continue to learn throughout our lives. Basically a learning path is a sequence of courses that allows an individual to learn effectively with small steps. Similarly Learning itself determines guarantee to a path of success.

Passion and Satisfaction

I think that most of you think that we have done a lot of learning and we are merely saturate. But pursuing passion and interest out of work is actual learning. For an individual, passion-based learning is a force that inspires art and make the weak strong. Because passion makes a way out of no way. Also learning basically is a major source of satisfaction as-well. Basically the word satisfaction doesn't clearly suits the perspective instead, "peace of mind" fits the frame. Hence a person with a skill and a positive learning capability holds special satisfaction or rather should I say "peace of mind".

Economic Imperative and Leadership

According to recent article in The Economist, Learning is becoming an economic imperative. Technology change demands stronger and more continuous connections with education and employment.The Return on Investment between education and employer is not as liner as it once. Learning mutually develops a spectrum of leadership traits in a person:

1- Honesty and Integrity
2- Commitment and Passion
3- Decision-making capabilities
4- Delegation and Empowerment
5- Creativity and Innovation

Learning Prepares for the Unexpected

Lets face it guys, life is the synonym of attributing hardships so what? doesn't mean we have to give up on our goal. Not at all but the hardships encountered by you will definitely help you succeed in future. Because it makes a better person to have had hardships and to have overcome them and most importantly not to blame anyone for your mistakes. Lifelong learning will help you adapt to unexpected changes in life. Learning advances growing on a whole new level which makes it easier for you to forge out of your comfort zone.

Changes your Perspective

Learning new skills give us the feeling of accomplishment which in turn boosts our confidence. It unveils new opportunities and help you find interactive solutions to your problems easily. Lifelong learning broadens your

thoughts and changes your attitude by building on what you actually know. The more you learn, the more you  see the same situation from different views.

Types of Lifelong Learning

Till now I have been able to improvise a few types of Lifelong Learning based upon a few researches and study:

• Formal
• Self-directed
• Professional
• Personal
• Indirect
• Informal
• Visual
• Auditory
• Kin aesthetic

Resources

I believe the the we are living in is not the golden age but there are limitless resources for supporting learning:

1. Get into habit of reading
2. Build a network of go-to experts and ask questions
3. Learn by teaching someone else
4. Go to library and explore the shelves
5. Observe whats happening around you
6. Evaluate, reflect and apply what you've learned
7. Take online lectures and attend classes
8. Visit museums and find a peaceful place in your life
9. Become open to possibilities around you
10. Ask more and speak less

Creating Appropriate Environment for Learning

Creating Appropriate Environment for Learning:

A classroom is the birth place of knowledge and education. This is the sacred place where imagination gives birth to ideas,education is used as the main tool for providing knowledge and constant appreciation results in development of superior beings. But creating such an environment is the main goal for the purpose to provide quality education. It requires the efforts of Teachers and of course the students.Therefore in light of above mentioned reasons, lets discuss some factors which can serve as foundation stone in development of necessary environment:

Make Learning Relevant: 

Sometimes a student ignores the teacher. This often occurs because the teacher is not making the lecture or the subject interesting for student. My point of view is to never take pupils as empty jugs who need to be filled but to listen to them and teach them in a fun and easy way. This can only be done by opting to their imaginative side. This way they will understand much more.

Always Develop a Code of Conduct:

A classroom is a place where legends are born but only in a positive environment, Human Beings are made therefore try to create a positive environment. This can only be done by developing some restrictions or in other word a Code of Conduct. Force the students to obey it. At  first it will be resisted by some students but once applied, it eill be the main cause in developing a positive environment in your class.

Help students Develop Intrinsic Motivation:

To make learning more inevitable is the excellent success of a instructor but to achieve this goal, a teacher must make sure to engage with students in such a way that they feel intrinsic motivation from you. As actions are preceded by thoughts, that means actions are persistent with thoughts so the students can be helped in such a way that you change their negative thoughts to positive one's. As a result they will produce positive reactions.

 Responding Back with a Positive Behavior Enhances Learning:

To exhibit exceptional mannerism, conversation with positive attitude and showing positive manners is the best way to reinforce a learning environment. Regardless of any circumstances, always focus on responding in your best manner. It will automatically establish a beautiful relationship between the teacher and students. Teaching students to communicate and acknowledge with existing environment is the best way to foster a learning environment.

Get to Know Each Student:

To maximize learning, we need to dig deeper than superficial acquaintance. Is the totally a thing of past but mentioning it might clear our brains and it would become easy to understand the dilemma. In past the teachers did not actually peruse the students in either systematic or rigorous way but as I have said it before, Its all gone past. Today the research and experience in globally increasing classrooms are revealing complex interplay of factors influencing a manual teaching environment. It is merely not possible for a teacher to forge personal connections with student but presence of an intellectual bond is necessary to enhance the learner's learning compatibility. Sometimes a teacher has to impress his personality on his students and sometimes he has to act in accordance with the students intellect such as, sharing a common hobby, having same interests etc.

How can a Teacher Create Appropriate Classroom Environment:

As modernization has completely mechanized our living standards, we have to opt with certain circumstances to boost learning. Becoming an effective teacher is the final solution to this problem which can be solved by seeking multiple sites of input which will enable you to boost the students learning skills. Following are few steps you can take to maintain a proper learning environment in class:

1 Address student by name

2 Use Magic word such as "please" or "thank you"

3 Always Listen

4 Encourage students to participate in conversation

5 Accept answers

6 Address students need

7 Create sense of order

8 Avoid judging

9 Stop rewarding control

10 Be vulnerable and celebrate success