Daily Blog Challenge Day 4: ‘watch’

Introduction

I’ve come to the conclusion that some of these posts might be shorter than others. You need to remember that I am trying to maintain my focus on this challenge while working full time and creating content on the evenings so blogging is just a casual pastime.

but rather than giving up, I have readdressed my aims. I am getting up earlier in order to post but also writing shorter posts on the days when I’m super busy – like today.

Watch and learn!

I consider that I am a very independent learner, being intrinsically motivated to be innovative, seek out learning opportunities, and always seeking to improve. In this world, technology is constantly improving and there are so many opportunities to learn that there is really no excuse anymore not to.

Knowledge is becoming more and more freely available across the world and when it comes to expertise any one can actually develop these and then share them on the internet. YouTube has a wealth of tutorial videos from make-up to editing videos and more focused sites such as Skillshare allows people to share courses in order to support learning in a range of subjects, from graphic design to Instagram filters. The knowledge is becoming more accessible and more diverse by the day and maybe even the hour or minute.

Videos are a great way of learning and developing understanding and this is where I would like to link my daily blog word to this discussion. If you want to learn something new, then there is probably a video out there that you can watch and learn from. You will be able to stop and replay it and also return to it in order to refresh your understanding or clarify key points. And, before there is an avalanche of comments referring to fake news and lack of qualifications of the people who are producing the content, there are the important skills that we develop as we watch and learn.

One of the most important skills is criticality. Seeing something and not just accepting it but considering the points, assessing whether this is acceptable or even true, and even rating the provider to see whether they are actually an expert and able to share the knowledge reliably. These skills and thought processes are so important and often are removed from the learning process since you are confident that the person in front of you teaching you is or should be, an expert in their field. By engaging with these skills associated with the learning then the application and engagement is improved and learning deepened. Seems like a win-win situation to me!

Conclusion

So never let the absence of a person to teach you something be a barrier to your learning. The knowledge is out there in video form, where you can filter down specifically what you want to learn and engage with the process. You can revisit it as many times as you want until your understanding is complete and, at the same time, develop skills that will be beneficial for life and all interactions, whether this be with knowledge or people. Remember, all you need to do is watch and learn!