Dear class,

With the easy accessibility of the internet in campus, it’s not surprising to see many of you using internet as the primary source for research and learning. After all, one just needs to key in a search term in any search engine of one’s preference and the information will be found. While online research looks useful, there is one pitfall that most of us are unaware of, which is the lack of structure in our learning.

Let’s consider an example. When we want to learn more about communication skills, it’s easy for us to type in “Communication skills” as the search terms in a search engine, and we get the information that we want. However, the information that the search engine pulls out for us comes from all types of sources. Lack of credibility aside, we also face the issue of having to define what it is that we really want to know about communication skills. And without a structure for learning, it is easy for us to get lost in the tons of information and data that is prevalent in the internet. This is the reason why textbooks still exist in the face of the internet, for they provide the structure that is so crucial to our learning.

Textbook acts as a precursor to our learning, providing the basic structures that guide our learning. Of course, one textbook is insufficient to cover a subject matter that we wish to learn. So, we should source for several textbooks. By providing a structure for learning, textbooks adds depth to learners’ learning. This means that books often enable learners to learn more about a particular subject matter than any online articles can hope to achieve. However, online information adds breadth to learners’ learning, in the sense that online information often provides more perspective on a particular subject matter than any single textbook can hope to accomplish (after all, it is impossible for the author(s) of a textbook to cover the entire scope of a subject matter as compared to countless information sources on the internet, no matter how wide-ranging their knowledge is).

So, how do we combine the use of textbooks and the internet for learning?

I propose that we start with a few textbooks and based on the topics of interests in these texts, we can proceed to source for information on the internet. In this way, we are learning through a properly defined structure (with depth) while enhancing our understanding with information on the internet (thus increasing the breadth of our study).

All of you are fortunate to have a library and internet access in campus, so the abovementioned approach is one approach that you might like to consider when it comes to enhancing your learning experience.

During our course of studies, we have learnt many things. While it is always good to be knowledgeable, not all the things that we came across are relevant to us in our lives. And what’s interesting is that we usually forget what we have learnt once we lose touch of them. For example, how many of you are able to remember every significant date from your history classes (for those of you who have taken history lessons)? Or how many of you are still able to remember all the equations in your chemistry classes? 

So, what is important in our learning process is not to gather as much information as possible in our lifetime, because we usually do not use most of them. Try reading today’s newspaper from front to back and see if you can remember the details of every news articles that you have read ten weeks down the road. You probably can’t, and you won’t need to.  So, what is important in our learning process then? It’s actually to convert what you have read (that is, data) to something that you understand (that is, information) before finding ways to make use of the information to your advantage. That is, turning information into insights.

But how do you turn information into insights? This is what the bulk of this article is about.  Well, you can do this by making the effort to relate everything that you have learnt to your lives. Of course, when it comes to the media, there are some knowledge that is either irrelevant (such as the announcement by the media on an upcoming conference for engineers. Why do you want to know that if you are not an engineer and have no use of such information for anyone? ), redundant (such as an article on the convergence of digital technology. Well, you have known this already, yes?) or short-term (such as a publicity on a car exhibition tomorrow. Such information is useless since the occurrence is not long-term, and this is especially so when you have absolutely no interest in the event). 

It is important to note that the media caters to a large group of readers, which differs greatly in terms of demographic and psychographic profiles. Hence, not all the information that is provided by the media is related or even useful to us. We need to sift out the relevant content for ourselves, else it will be a matter of time before we suffer from information overload.

So relating the things that you have learnt to your lives is crucial, since these are often the things that you will remember for a long time. If you do not believe this, just think of the most memorable scene and/or character in a movie that you have watched. You will not be able to remember every single detail of it but rather, certain snippets will stand out. Examine these snippets and you will realise that the reason that you find these moments/person memorable is because you can relate to it in some way. Maybe it’s the humour, or maybe it’s the emotion(s) that you have experienced when watching the film that reflects how you feel in your real life, or maybe it’s the fact that you are able to relate to the characteristics of the lead character(s) in some ways that are similar to your own.

Therefore, it will be good if all of you are able to relate what you have learnt in class to your lives. Try to see if you are able to apply what you have learnt in the classroom to your own lives. This is because when to comes to acquiring knowledge, its application is equally if not more important.

Whatever you are able to relate to, you will remember it for a long time.

We are often advised since our childhood days by many individuals to read more books. This will increase our literacy level (which is true) and enable us to be more knowledgeable (which is also true). However, there is something that is often not highlighted to us, which is the fact that mere reading of books and not practising the good practices highlighted in the story often affects our well-being in life.

When we read a story, we are entertained. However, values held by the lead characters and their positive behaviour are often ignored. Save for literature students who explore the various characters of stories in vivid details, the rest of us usually ignore the characteristics of characters but place our focus on the main storyline. For readers of self-help books, most of them might practise what they have observed but usually, not all of them do.

So, why do most of us not apply what we have gathered from stories and self-help books in our lives? Well, the first reason is already mentioned above. Not many realise the benefits of application.  Another reason is due to the fact that it often requires more effort in understanding the characters of the stories than merely reading the story itself.

However, if we are able to internalise the positive values and messages from books by applying the concepts and behaviour in our lives, we can improve our lives tremendously. Just think of giving others respect and practising thriftiness are two examples that illustrate the positive effects of applying good values and concepts from books. It is also through the application of positive concepts in our lives that we transform knowledge into wisdom. And ultimately, wisdom is the more valuable of the two.

But books are not the only source that you can learn from. Observe the behaviours and reactions of characters from movies and dramas. Observe individuals in your daily lives. Note the positive aspects of their speech and behaviour and see if you can apply it in your own lives. Writing a personal journal to self-reflect is also a very good practice.

So, start practising from today.

Observe, analyse and apply the positive aspects of life in your life.