Learning Skills for Open Distance Learners

Learning could be defined as “the acquisition of knowledge or skill through education and experience”. As the world is changing, it is our responsibility to learn things and be informed well. There are certain barriers while learning or for a learner. It includes things like having stress, low motivation, time management problems etc. For a student of any college or school it is important to know how to tackle the barriers of learning. In this essay I will be focusing on the important skills I have learnt through ODL (Learning Skills for Open Distance Learners) and how these skills have brought a change in my academic life.

One of the most important things I learned in this module is identifying which type of a learner I am. Everyone has their own learning style and it is beneficial for a student to know about the learning style. This is because; this helps in knowing how to gain information from sources. Knowing about the learning style makes it easier to pinpoint the difficult areas. All these years I have been studying without knowing my own learning style. Now I am able to know in which way I should work in order to do the learning more effectively. This in case helps me in improving my results as well.

Goals are defined as “setting realistic, easily achievable steps in place towards fulfilling something that you want”. Goals can help a person to be focused on a particular thing he wants to achieve. Goal setting is known as the fundamental of attaining success in any endeavor. While studying it is important to set short term goals like, grades he wants to achieve in a semester or trimester. After knowing to set goals it has become easy for me to work towards my destination in achieving good results.

The next thing I learned in this module is managing stress. Stress is defined as “the normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way”. Stress can be caused due to work loads, family problems, finances, health, social relationships, friends, etc. High stress level reduces the concentration level of a person. Therefore, it is important to know how to manage stress in order to be an effective learner. By using the strategies like organizing myself, relaxing, enjoying, having a better environment to study has improved my concentration level and it helped me to reduce the stress.

In each and everything a person do, he should be motivated. This is because without motivation no one can do a task in a better way. Motivation is the desire to achieve something. A student should be well motivated towards studies in order to get good results. In ODL I have learned motivational strategies like setting goals, building positive attitudes, using active learning strategies, etc. These strategies helped me in developing a positive attitude toward my studies.

To be an efficient learner it is important to learn the above mentioned strategies. It helps in building positive attitude towards studies and also these strategies help in gaining better knowledge. Learning cannot be complete without knowing these skills. In a Chinese proverb it is said that “Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere”.