Learning Loop

Learning new things is always interesting. The inborn thirst for learning new and new concepts differentiates human beings from other creatures. The Almighty has blessed us with this virtue. But the eagerness for knowledge can also derail us from our actual motives. ''Is this guy out of his mind!''- you might be thinking this about me. But yes, it's true. I'm talking about the Learning Loop.

What Is Learning Loop?

According to DIY (Development Impact & You), 

❝The learning loop is a tool that helps you to define how the work you do now informs     what you do next. It provides a high level perspective on how implementing social change   can be broken down into a gradual process of iterative cycles❞

In simple language, a learning loop helps you to build a sequential structure that helps you to learn in a better & quicker way. You can have a single, double, or multiple loop for your purpose.

Examples of some learning loops 

How Easy Is Learning?

Learning loop can be extremely helpful for a strategic process if and only if you can stick to your purpose. Now, what does it mean? Being an engineer you have lots of interesting topics to learn. You can go for programming languages like C/C++, Python, Java or you can learn HTML, CSS, JS. Even if you are a tech-enthusiast, you may become passionate to learn Robotics, Machine Learning, Image Processing & MATLAB. Again you can be a beginner who wants to learn Arduino or Raspberry Pi. There are numerous fascinating things out there. You just have to type and learn. 

Actually, you are lucky enough to have institutions like Coursera, Udemy, Youtube where you can learn the things from the finest teachers and instructors from all over the world. A few years earlier it was a fantasy and people need to struggle hard for learning.

Is It Wrong to Learn?

Have you ever read a research paper? You don't need to be a researcher to read a paper. Just go to Google Scholar and search for any topic you find interesting. When you go through the paper, you will find several new terms. For example, if you try to read a paper on an Arduino project, you might find terms like TTL, Ram, Sram, Flash Memory, ATmega, etc. Now let us try to relate the things,

► Action: Reading a paper

► Reader's Status: Beginner

► Objective: To know the structure of a paper

► Field of Interest: Arduino

► Growing Interest: TTL, PCB, ATmega, IDE, Open Source, etc.

► Result: Arduino projects

As you can see, in this hypothetical case, a beginner who is interested to know about the structure of a research paper ends in Arduino projects. While you keep searching the ins and outs of Arduino and the relative terms to "understand" the paper, you have deviated from your prime motive which was the structure of the paper. So we can say you are stuck in a learning loop.

Therefore there is no harm in learning but one should keep stick to his motive. Otherwise while searching for one term, you will get several more unknown terms and this loop will go on.

How to Get Rid of the Loop?

A curious mind is always eager to learn. But being a part of a loop will neither satisfy your objective nor help you in learning. Basically, beginners are the prey to this. One should adopt the following steps to avoid the loop;

✔ Fix the specific topic

✔ Set the objectives

✔ Make a sequence tree to achieve the goals

✔ Note down the new terms

✔ Divide them into different categories according to their applications

✔ Filter the relevant terms to your specific topics

✔ Get to learn!

Get to know more about the learning loop from the video here; How to learn way faster using learning loops

Image Source:

* SlideShare

* Medium

* Learn Forward AB

* Dr. Helen Barett

* 123RF.com