What are the learning skills and how to develop them

These days, expanding knowledge and skill base is more a requirement than a choice. Now it’s crucial to know how to learn and equip yourself with qualities that ensure your success in the 21st century. That`s where learning skills come to action.

Learning skills definition

What are learning skills? Generally speaking, learning skills is an umbrella term for abilities that help acquire new knowledge. Strictly speaking, these skills let us learn more in less time with better results.

Learning skill examples

Some examples of learning skills are time management, reading effectively, seeking relevant information, problem-solving, decision making, analytical skills, attention to detail, and asking the right questions.

Developing new skills is highly beneficial to your personal and professional life, letting you improve your abilities, become smarter, a better communicator, and just a more competent and interesting person.

If you Google “learning skills,” you might be lost in this pool of requirements, with twenty-something different types of learning skills in each article. To make it not so scary, we propose you C`s which stand for critical thinking, creative thinking, communication, and collaboration.

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a careful analysis and digesting of facts we receive day by day. In the era of informational overdose, it works as a filter that helps us separate “the wheat from the chaff.”  The ability to think critically is heading almost every education skills list.

Firstly, critical thinking helps us find relevant sources of knowledge and allows us to sort through the noise and define trustworthy channels. Secondly, it simplifies examining the information, making references and connections, and looking at how the parts work together. Also, critical thinking is a powerful tool for defining your strong and weak sides, which is the first step into self-improvement. Moreover, the ability to think critically makes you free from limiting beliefs and prejudices that hold you back. You become more open-minded to new ideas and others’ points of view, which is essential for gaining new knowledge.

Creative Thinking

Creative thinking is a set of abilities that allows us to develop new ideas and unconventional solutions to problem-solving. While many consider creative thinking as a gift, it is actually a skill to learn. It`s a fuel for innovations that lets us create new senses and develop ideas that have never existed before. Creative thinking allows trying new approaches to learning 

Also, it is a practical skill when it comes to speaking because people connect through conversation. Thanks to creative thinking, we become pros in telling stories or even making jokes.

Communication

Communication is one of the basic learning skills that we use when giving and receiving different kinds of information. It allows us to understand and be understood by others and, thus, is essential in our day-by-day routine. How can you improve your communication skills?

Active listening. It means paying attention to what a person is talking about without distraction and switching to hones. Aside from getting helpful information from people, active listeners are always well-regarded thanks to their attention to others. Also, active listening helps to improve your empathy and understand the emotions of others.

Collaboration

Collaboration is another essential skill that allows people to work together. Knowing how to cooperate with others creates a safe workplace and ensures efficient teamwork. Through collaborating, we can teach and learn, solve problems, feel the support of our team, and get inspired by people around us.

As you might notice, 4C`s are closely interconnected and can`t exist one without another. 4C`s skillset allows you to find relevant information, ask the right questions, translate knowledge to various contexts and adopt new perspectives.

How to improve your learning skills?

There are some tips you can try to develop a 4`Cs skillset.

1. Make research. Looking for reliable materials is the first step to grasp knowledge and facts that could make you more intelligent, more informed, and, consequently, have better critical thinking.

2. Look for different points of view. When looking for information, seek diverse opinions to get a bigger picture and thus know more.

3. Aks questions. People around you keep much practical knowledge of the world, their job, etc. Questioning actively lets you get different views on life, work, and, again, ways of thinking from people around.

4. Learn from mistakes. Doing something wrong is normal, but making conclusions and tips from these mistakes is an effective way to improve.

5. Stay curious. Try to engage with different types of content: books, articles, videos, lectures, podcasts to be uncircled by information of all kinds and keep up with trends.

6. Expand your knowledge. The key factor in developing this skill set is gaining much knowledge in different areas. The more you know, the wider life frame you get, and more senses and ideas are stocked in your brain. 

To become successful in modern society you have to study constantly and strive for self-improvement in professional and personal life.

We created Nerdish with this idea of lifelong learning and a need to know more. Nerdish provides you with well-checked articles to give you essential knowledge about the world. We are here to help you gain new knowledge and become smarter and develop learning skills in a comfortable way.