reflecting and learning…learning and reflecting…
My first lecture in human resources development about three weeks ago was focused on learning: the importanceof learning in human resource training and development, approaches to and methods of learning, and ways to become life-long learners. We received our first assignment at the end of class - to keep a reflective learning log based on content presented in four of the first six lectures. If you are keeping up with my blog, you must know me well enough to have picked up on my reflective tendencies, so you won’t be surprised to hear that I was excited about this assignment. I was relieved that my first assignment might play to my strengths, but it didn’t come as easily as I had anticipated. The difficulty with reflecting is establishing an organized flow of thought rather than a rambling analysis of my observations. I’m a slow writer already, so being stumped by such a free flowing assignment frustrated me…I rambled out a few paragraphs and put it away until this week. This week’s lecture started off with a brief lesson in how to think and write critically, i.e., with clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, and logical flow. I can see more clearly now that my reflective log needs to not only discuss my thoughts and opinions on the material at hand, but also analyze the arguments presented AND evaluate their perspectives…the discussing, analyzing, and evaluating were all crowed up in my head before…now I can better differentiate between the purpose of each and hopefully get my point across.
What is my point? That I was surprised to find “learning” at the heart of my first lecture, assignment, and point of frustration; that already I have “learned” from this class and assignment that I need to approach every moment as an opportunity to “learn;” and that “learning” is exciting! I should remember to use learning as a motivational tool…to get out of bed, to pay attention in class, to study independently and seek out information on my own. The entire educational system here is centered on independent study. My classes meet once a week and have only two assignments and one exam each. I have already discovered that it is difficult to read about Human Resources or the European Union when I could be scouring my Berlin guide book and planning my days in Milan, but I am reminding myself that each assignment I complete and page that I read for my classes is contributing to my overall experience. I can grow just as much by actively pursuing my studies as I can by actively pursuing the sights of London.
Right, that’s said. Off to reflect…
