3 Tips to Becoming a More Productive Learner

These days, the average person receives an overload of information every single day.

Specifically, this information is equivalent to receiving 174 newspapers, daily. And according to the Harvard Business Review, this is five times more information than we received back in 1986.

Now that most companies offer online training or various types of training for their employees, the access to information is even more accessible than in the past.

However, only 15 percent of what working professionals learn via corporate training and development is actually even applied.

So, how can we become more productive at learning, while consuming more information than ever before?

Here are a few tips to think about the next time you are taking in your 174 daily newspapers, participating in e-learning for corporate training, or just brushing up on some skills.

Blending and Applying the Information Learned 

Fusing together all of the information you’ve taken in is important for memory retention.

And, putting all of the individual training together to make a whole, adds emphasis on information learned. Synthesizing all the information you find important summarizes a brief repeat of what your key takeaways were from the video, article or book.

Every so often, as a bench mark, put a pause on practicing and learning, to ask yourself, “Okay, what were the main topics and the overall gist of what I just covered?”

This provides motivation and gives yourself valuable feedback of how well or not you are at retaining information. Overall, synthesizing all information learned allows for your memory to hold more than you might think it’s capable of.

Splitting the Learning Up

It’s true, slow and steady actually does win the race.

When participating in training or just learning for your own benefit, it is smarter to chunk your learning time rather than trying to digest all of the information at once. If you have a busy schedule and tend to struggle fitting in learning, set schedule time chunks to split up the learning rather than tackling it all in one hectic session.

For example, New Velocity’s online learning platform, Virtual Velocity, provides learners with short, content-rich chapters that help learners retain information.

Taking Advantage of Tech Tools

With the increase in technology and the world becoming even more technology savvy, take advantage of the technology tools available for your convenience.

Having access to specific technology tools can make learning fun, easy and fast. Mobile learning, video learning, simulators, discussion boards, etc. are all readily available to make learning stick. With this type of learning you can use any device, at anytime and anywhere.

Whatever your schedule allows, take advantage of the tech tools available to help make your life easier. Split the learning up and synthesize the information grasped from all the information that is at your fingertips.