"Learning How to Learn" - Which Learning Techniques Really Foster Contemporary Academic Learning?

Learning is an essential competency that can be developed over an entire lifetime. Taking up a course of academic study is a situation of radical change and requires transforming the way a person learns. Training in learning how to learn seems to play an important role within universities. At the University of Witten/Herdecke, "Learning to Learn," a longitudinal seminar, was developed and carried out that addresses physiological, psychological and spiritual known to contribute to both the improvement of learning and to the development of learning techniques. Which learning techniques were perceived to be the most efficient? This study aimed to evaluate students' attitudes towards different learning techniques and explore how these techniques are integrated into the process of contemporary academic learning. After finishing the seminar, the students completed a mixed-methods questionnaire for evaluation. A few months later, some students reflected in writing on their learning habits. Which learning techniques are perceived to be the most effective? This study aims to evaluate students' attitudes towards different learning techniques and explore how these techniques arc integrated into the process of contemporary academic learning. The qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed by means of Atlas-Ti and SPSS. "Organization and structure," "taking a day off" and "self-reflection" Were identified as the most important strategies for the students. The preparation of a weekly schedule was considered to be the most efficient of all learning techniques and also remained in use for months after the seminar was completed. One of the keys to facilitating contemporary academic learning seems to lie in helping students structure their learning, encouraging them to take a day off once in a while, and in motivating them to be introspective. (C) 2016 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.uk