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Students, young professionals as well as advanced users invest funds, efforts and time for training themselves for professional development, and all may have different preferences. Being at an early stage of my own career, I have been looking into training concepts and done quite some reading lately.
Here are five recommendations based on my observations and reading. Let me know how you think about these and please leave a comment!
Choice
Any learning content is effective only when it gives the learner an opportunity to explore, understand and apply their knowledge. This can be accomplished with many of today’s digital learning solutions, for example. Interactivity, access to digital resources, and project-based learning, are just a few keywords in this context. The value of each model is determined within the context and purpose of use. With the big amount of options, make sure to discuss with peers and your manager to get recommendations.
Confidence
This is often overlooked. Getting started is sometimes challenging. Make sure to assess your actual training needs and tackle it promptly. Even a small win is important. It shows yourself and your boss what can be done and gives you the confidence to reach out for bigger and better opportunities. Also, as noted before, the vast amount of courses and delivery options don’t make it easy to make a choice. Your peers, managers or career advisers should be able to guide you.
Purpose
Give yourself a reason to train. A good motivation to increase your interest is a positive answer to the question “Will this activity help me in my work?”. Focus on the the expected results from your training. The greater the interest in the topic is, the more you will have greater desire to engage and apply what you learn in the activity.
Practice
The time is now right to bring in your learnings to life: Apply what you have learned and keep practicing. Learn, apply and retain your skillset by practicing. You should soon see positive results at your work and be motivated to add further skills.
Reassess
Lastly reassess your knowledge by online assessment tests that helps you know the ability to understand topics without the pressure of taking a formal exam. Also, engage with your peers – share your own knowledge and learn from them. Talking to peers is a great way to assess your skills in context of your job every day.
Let me know if you find these tips helpful. I am looking forward to your comments!
Yes, I also think that the possibility of applying knowledge in practice very important now in the study of any subject. For me it was important and I learned from my mistakes, but I already knew how to apply any knowledge in practice. Each learned material and solved with its help task (or problem) increases your confidence and helps in further learning. And of course it's important to understand what you are aiming for. So set goals and achieve them.