I.1. Learning effectively

Welcome to my blog. Here I will be providing free business courses online. I will cover a range of subjects such as general management, communication, ethics, negotiation, leadership, economics, marketing, international business, cross-cultural management, global business, internationalisation, strategies etc. It covers a wide range of business issues, but it will be organised in a coherent and relevant manner, otherwise it would not make any sense.
Good luck with your learning process :)
The fist topic I will be covering is: 

I. Communication and Ethics in Business

I.1. Learning effectively
 

Throughout this course, you will aim at developing critical competencies. The material I will be providing here certainly will guide you in developing these competencies, but you will need to reflect over time on your various experiences with regards to what is being presented here. It's simple: the more you put in (effort, work, reflection, perseverance), the more you'll get out.
Below is the list of critical competencies you'll aim at developing:

• Think critically, independently and reflectively
• See beyond your own personal experience
• Address issues from all sides
• Consider the consequences of communicative action & business decisions, whether intended or unintended
• Evaluate issues from several perspectives
• Defend viewpoints; analyse new information or perspectives
• Contribute to the international community
• Work in teams and collaborate with others
• Acknowledge one’s social & ethical responsibility.

Studying is a process of learning. It is therefore important to start by thinking for a minute about what learning is and means.
It can be defined as: a relatively permanent change in behaviour, understanding or feeling/emotion. Indeed, once you have learned something, it is difficult to go back.

Let's look at how people learn:

We see that successful learning is about 4 things:

1. Change: new learning or updated belief/knowledge
2. Lasting change
3. Learning can be based on emotions, understanding and/or behaviours and skills
4. Last but not least: learning results from our interactions with our environment

Finally another point to reflect on: “learning is a way of interacting with the world. As we learn, our conceptions change, and we see the world differently. The acquisition of information in itself does not bring about such a change, but the way we structure that information and think with it does”.

So why all this fuss about learning? Isn’t this supposed to be a business course? Why am I talking about learning at this stage?

Well, because in our modern society and environment, learning is more important than ever. Being able to effectively learn and use this acquired knowledge is in fact the condition required for being successful. Hence the importance of paying particular attention to this process and reflecting on how in you learn and use knowledge in your everyday life.

We have evolved from a problem solving, reactive approach to an anticipation and problem avoidance approach.

“The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn unlearn and relearn”.

I encourage you to reflect on that, and I’ll see you in the next chapter.