Study Skills, Tools and Techniques for Personal Study

Individuals evaluate their learning styles in different ways. Self-Awareness is a good way for individual learners to evaluate the way they learn best and what they can do to ensure they are reaching their full potential. Everyone will all have different learning styles and ways that they learn best or more negative things such as distractions. It is evident that my self-recognition is that working alone with minimal distractions, I learn better. In a busy environment I find myself easily distracted, especially at work when the Care Team are asking for support and Residents need help.

My Self Awareness involves taking time to complete tasks and focusing my mind on documents that are important such as this course. I am a dedicated hard working individual with a huge passion for my job role with a hands on approach, I feel this can sometimes be hard especially when needing time to complete my own work and loosing concentration. I am aware that I need to be in a quiet environment with no distractions to get the best out of my work and learn effectively. When working from home I find that I have less distractions and I have a place that I can focus and learn effectively.

Recognition of an individual learning style is different for every individual and will be able to self evaluate on what they find is the best learning style for them. My learning style involves collecting lots of information and having evidence of the subject, either by note taking or researching. I like to ask lots of questions to ensure that the information I have is correct and can evidence them safely into my learning. I have a laid back personality which helps to keep stress levels down to ensure that my learning style is stress free and my working environment is as clean as possible.

Individuals work differently, I find a tidy office is a tidy space equalling a tidy mind. Other learnings may find other ways of learning more effective such as visual, auditory, reading, writing and kinesthetic. Individuals may decide to reflect their information into notes or sharing with others. I see myself as more of an activist learner and like to have the more hands on approach to learn along with up to date research. It is really important to ensure that your lifestyle is healthy to ensure you have a bright approach to your role daily.

Strategies for improving memory is also different for every individual, everyone will have a different approach. Individuals may find mind mapping, mind quiz's, games etc will sharpen the mind to ensure their memory is prime for the individual subjects. I find myself reading, researching and mind mapping with notes to ensure that I can remember everything and to improve my memory. I often find myself improving my memory by taking myself away from the busy scenario and being on my own evaluating the situation, researching and responding with factual information. I find having a laid back approach often helps to keep my mind less overwhelmed and the information seems to embed into my memory, if I find myself worried or stressed I will often forget things and this is distressing for me as an individual. As an individual who has structure and who is organised I find myself with a clear mind and easy to learn new things.

In the workplace it is essential to be able to collate information together to ensure that there is clear structure for all information that is stored. We have documentation in folders and files that are colour coded and structured by monthly dividers with a front page to stage the file. It is important to be proactive and collate all information together to have clear structure for other users and yourself. All documentation needs to be stored in the most effective way and locked away (GDPR). I believe as management it is important to work together to find the most appropriate way that works for your team to collate and store your information that is explanatory to others. I like to be organised and have a spreadsheet at the front of each file documenting what is in the file, the date, the month etc and this is effective for other users so they can find the documentation easier.

When evaluating information such a internet it is important to look at the accuracy of the information, the authority of the research page and if you can trust the source, the validity if the information is recent and in date. When self-evaluating your own work it is important that all written evidence is factual and documented and recorded in the appropriate files such as supervisions, investigations, statements etc. All documents should be dated and signed by the writer and management and filed away in a locked cabinet. It is important to evaluate your work to evidence any improvements that could be made for the future and how you can improve your learning style and also to reflect on others of how they are doing. It is important to work together and feedback on others work.

Last but not least, it is important to be organised when preparing to study, it is essential to have all the tools to enable you to study effectively. I find myself in a calm quiet environment either in my office or at home where I can really focus on the task. I like to have to a notepad to hand so I can make notes throughout and go back to evaluate and collate the information together to produce a piece of work. I ensure the area is clean and there is no distractions such as TV, phone etc and have my laptop to research any information that I am unsure about. I like to hand write as much information about the task as possible before beginning. I prefer to take my time, gather all information that is needed before beginning to write an assignment. I often find myself spending a few hours gathering information over a few days to look at all the information from different perspective before writing the assignment of which I like to do all in one go. I really struggle to start the assignment but when I get into the flow of writing I do not want to stop. I feel if you have all the information and you have planned effectively the words will flow and you can put all the facts into the assignment. I like to have a drink to hand and not to be disturbed.