As time goes on and new responsibilities and opportunities appear in my life, I find myself having to constantly alter and update my personal learning plan. Not only do I face personal and family responsibilities that I have to adapt to, but I notice a shift in interests and needs as I come across more information about issues, concerns, and tools in the tech industry.
What is a learning plan?
Some of you may be wondering what I mean by a learning plan, especially because I am not in school (yet!). I define a learning plan as a structured approach to rebuilding, refining, and enhancing my knowledge and skills. According to an education technology company called Docebo, a learning plan is “a tool used to outline and manage employee learning and development over a set time period.” Some other definitions of a learning plan include “a comprehensive, customizable, multi-day plan for instruction and assessment,” and “a description of how you intend to achieve your desired outcomes in learning.” Essentially it serves as a sort of contract that details your learning goals and how you intend to reach them. They are usually used in a school or workplace setting, but they can be employed for personal use as well. The reason a learning plan has been helpful to me is because it is a constant reminder of what I want to achieve. As a career changer with no formal education in technology (yet!), it has become essential for me to keep track of my learning and where that learning is intended to place me in my future career or personal goals. I have attended a bootcamp before, but that was some years ago. Ever since, I have had to teach myself with the help of many online tools. While this definitely equalizes the access to pertinent information useful to advance in a tech career, the downside is the sheer magnitude of information available and trying to sort through what is most relevant to you and your career goals (which can lead to analysis paralysis). It can become overwhelming and discouraging trying to sift through many well-meaning courses and tutorials that may or may not complement one’s purported learning style (and that is a whole other topic).
How does one create a learning plan?
So how does one establish a learning plan ? Well it definitely varies based on a person’s needs, wants, and the industry or academic program they are in. I will discuss my process just to give an example of how one may go about this on their own. If you have someone who can assist you with this process, I think that is an even better approach.
First I ask myself the following questions.
- What are my interests/passions?
- What are my tangible skills ?
- What are my intangible skills?
- What role(s) can I combine skills and passions?
- What is needed in the industry this role is in?
- What can I improve on to access this role?
Second, I write down what I want to learn. Since I am in the web development field, this often involves programming languages, libraries, frameworks, content management systems, or anything else that helps to create websites or web applications. Recently I decided that I wanted to learn cloud tools like Microsoft Azure. Microsoft has a great learning platform that is free where you can learn Azure and other awesome technology tools. I made the decision to start the Azure Fundamentals course. Microsoft also includes a study guide that will help you prepare for the certification exam once you have completed the course.
Third, I review the curriculum of the course or learning path I want to explore and think of time I can dedicate and how I can divide the course content into more manageable sections. For the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course, there are 3 learning paths that are encapsulated by it. In each of the learning paths there are 3-4 modules, and when you click on each learning path, a time estimate is provided. One could decide to break these up by time limit, or just by module. I chose to do one module per day, but also allowed myself to take an extra day if needed, since some modules had exercises or a lot of text content to read through.
Fourth, I assign a flexible due date. For the Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course, I decided that I would give myself 2 weeks. That way, I would not only be able to comfortably finish a module without pressure, I would also have some extra time in case I did not finish a module all in one day.
Next, I add this to a document that I will frequently access like a Google doc, or a GoodNotes digital notebook or planner. For you, it may be an actual notebook or planner that is tangible. Since I am constantly on the computer or my tablet, a digital document or notebook works for me.
Last, I reference this document to compare my progress with the plan and make adjustments as needed. I use my tablet a lot, so I often make notes to myself about my progress and reflect on said progress. Some questions I ask myself include: Do I feel that I understood what I learned that day? How will I go about applying these new found skills? How will I make time for review given my full time work and life schedule?
Conclusion
I do not think learning stops when we graduate from school, although sometimes many of us wish it would. We should be able to access adequate, reliable, and effective information when we would like to gain a new skill or acquire more knowledge. Just like we create a plan for exercise, diet, or for things to complete for the day, why not create a list for learning? Our brains are in need of nourishment, too.
I am a person who is very curious and likes to learn, so a learning plan of some sort is a must for me and many other adult learners. It may not be necessary for all of the adult learners out there to create a learning plan, but I hope that this proves helpful to anyone who would like to structure their learning into a more digestible method.