My greatest passion is in training, visual communication design (Print, web, photography, and video), sport for social change and creative entrepreneurship which I have lived to learn and share the experiences of more than 12yrs now and still going strong.
Reflecting back from the year 2000 I see a situation where we are fighting to get the young people employed or be self employed while the big emphasis cutting across many skills which present new challenges every day. Our best practices rest on new paradigm shift in our approach to teaching and learning which is focused on tackling existing and emerging gaps. There are many widening gaps in the society which can’t solve immediately because its deep rooted and cause sometime by external factors beyond our limits from poverty, digital gaps, old versus new cultures just to mention but a few. To mitigate these gaps young people must master their journeys by embracing diverse skills, the main foundation being;
1. Problem solving skills
2. Critical and creative thinking skills
3. Financial literacy
4. Planning and communication skills
5. Technical skills
Among others!
In my experience working with young people, I have come to notice one great skill that hasn't been given the much attention that it deserves, that of Learning to Learn with the advent of many technologies emerging daily. Talk about the software industry there is a great rapid development that empowers the users to almost cutting the cost to zero for hiring someone for a certain task, the approach is based on what is called DIY which stands for Do It Yourself.
I love also the MOOC (Massive Online Open source Course) approach which makes it easier for a young person for example living in the slum with internet connectivity to enroll in a course of their choice in a reputable university oversees and in this situation self discipline and good time management is important because nobody will push you to do something and this where the world if moving to. This approach hasn’t left behind the working from home or working in virtual offices with your global team is a great convincing reason to adapt and adopt new paradigms in our learning patterns.
Technology waits for no one; you either adapt or adapt to survive in the eco-system or stay behind and die slowly. The technology is cutting through all our social fabric from business, school, and communication, etc. and the only constant thing is CHANGE!
So what is my secret in addressing this gap of learn2learn? I guess this is the question that might be running in your mind as soon as you started reading the article. Here is my favorite list from my diary #Learn2Learn and if you like it, crown it!.
- Don't learn for the sake of learning. Set goals to what learning that is SMART (Specific, Measurable Achievable and Time bound, for example; if you are a front-end developer; I would like to learn how to build a contact form for my website before the end of the month.
- Break down the learning goals into small manageable tasks.
- Join a community that shared the same interest like yours, for example, if you aspire to be a great photographer to join a community of photographers, attend workshops, exhibition etc.
- Have a mentor and coaches who have time and interest in what you aspire to do and the best part is when you can grow together.
- Learn what is required of you before choosing your career path, by the way you aren't alone neither are you the first person to dive in that career. Instead of being a ‘Photoshoper’ aspire to be a great graphic designer or creative director.
- Wisely learn how to manage your time, skill, energy, friend etc.
- Nothing comes on silver platter and easy come easy go. Master your journey by training yourself, school won’t teach you everything. We have some built in knowledge and skills acquired without us noticing over a period of time, tap into that reserve which also God is given (Talent).
- Get a paying or a pro Bono assignment, this will always put your new acquire skills into practice.
- Exchange ideas and collaborate with others on a project.
- Read widely not everything is found on the internet, some are on books and other are in nature which hasn't been discovered. Strive to be a maker and much as you are a passionate user.
- “Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself”. Robert Heinlei
- “No one has ever completed their apprenticeship”. Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
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