Module 1: What is learning?

I have just finished module one of EDS 103 in a rush and I’m not proud of it. At 33, I got called out twice for not producing my output in time and it makes me embarrassed. Way to go, Jin! But, I am the only one who can change my situation so here I am, the mediocre learner, trying her best. Thanks to all the knowledge and insights I gathered from the course, I can also apply several principles and truths to my overall development as an educator and a person.

My first entry is about my personal realizations of what learner and learning entail and here it goes:

To learn, you must not be perfect but a willing participant. – What made it difficult for me to start reading the module materials was the thought that the circumstances had to be perfect first for me to learn – having a comfortable and clean study room and amiable family members around me or in this instance, roommates in a small apartment in Qatar. I also read about the expectations of the teacher in the subject and I cried to myself because I knew I was not a brilliant student. How could I not disappoint my professor and classmates? They, too, would know about my weaknesses. Fast forward to today with no finished work when the day began, I realized that I should have just worked with what I had from the beginning. It doesn’t matter if don’t have the right background knowledge and skills or can’t tell A apart from B. What matters is we are willing, active and proactive, responsible, and disciplined learners.

Are you able to critique yourself? – As established from the readings and discussion forums, learning is transformative and it can only be really seen in our application of it in everyday lives. What’s more, we should be able to understand ourselves deeply to grasp what needs to be enhanced or eliminated. Granted that we may not be objective about ourselves, there are theories we can learn from in order to evaluate our own performances.

Learning and unlearning are both endless – if you choose to. – In this regard, attitude is also the key. If a person who wants to lose weight researches possible activities he or she can do to achieve the goal but still abides by his or her previous lifestyle of eating a lot and doing little exercise, then it will only end in vain. He or she will not be successful unless he or she denies himself or herself those delicious snacks in between meals and the comfortable lifestyle of just watching TV. Just like making an effort to jog in the morning and eat healthy vegetables everyday, one can go from healthy at 30 to healthiest at 100. We are reminded of the harsh lesson again and again until we learn it. But if we already learn and apply the positive idea without fail, then we can only improve so much.

Learning is living. Learning is an important aspect of living. If we develop a healthy relationship with learning, then we can live a worthwhile life. If we continue to appreciate (and not take for granted) the chances we have to learn something new and relearn things we already know, then we can always have something to do, love, and hope for in this journey called life.