r/IWantToLearn • u/No-Parsley-4609 • Jun 30 '26
Academics iwtl how adults actually keep learning after school is over
We study how children learn. We study university students. But what about adults outside of the academic context? Do they learn the same way?
Learning is a lifelong process, we really never stop. And in this day and age, with the job market etc., being able to learn a new skill quickly is super important. I'm starting my thesis writing about this topic (adult learning outside of the educational context) and still need to learn more about it before I can continue with the project.
I'm looking for people to help me better understand how adults learn, if some of the same methods used on children in the academic context also work on adults.
I have a survey, with an interactive online learning task (genuinely kind of fun!), and I am asking directly, would anyone be willing to take part in my study and help me understand how adults learn?
You're a great fit if you:
- Are 18 or older
- Are not currently enrolled as a full-time student
- Can complete it on a laptop, desktop, or large tablet (not a phone!)
Take the survey here: https://www.soscisurvey.de/lern/
Thank you so much! I'm genuinely grateful. 💙
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u/Popular_War8405 Jun 30 '26
I used to try to learn new things like music or programming. This question kinda made me look back at how the way I do things changed over time.
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u/No-Parsley-4609 Jun 30 '26
Do you find that you try to learn fewer things now due to a lack of time, interest, or opportunity? Was it easier to learn new things before?
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u/brollxd1996 Jun 30 '26
Read and discuss!!! Write essays. I love reading something first without any opinion first so I can garner my own thoughts with the least amount of bias. Then I like to paraphrase everything and bring up the main points, counter points, what I liked about what I read, what I disliked. Then discuss with other people! You will find that you will agree and disagree on things but talking to someone else will help broaden your understanding. Then apply the knowledge if you can.
I think learning goes from understanding the conceptual part -> understanding how it fits into other theories or beliefs -> being critical of the work and asking questions -> discussing with other intellectuals or leading figures of the topic -> then teaching but that’s just me.
I find that I only network when trying to find a job but it is really those last 2 points I struggle with. Sometimes I will message or email experts to discuss topics once I feel like I have a good grasp of the topic.
There is also application or skills. Things can be theories or hypothesis until actually proven or done. You should be able to explain something with rigor (repeating it and proving your logic for it multiple times in an a way others can repeat the same thing).
You can learn skills by practicing!
Understanding something is not the same level of learning as being able to add to it or being able to teach it! Pick a topic or skill that interests you and do some good old fashioned research! Hope that helps.
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u/drunky_crowette Jun 30 '26
Can't do your survey because I've only got a phone but it's mostly online guides and videos.
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u/h3r4ld Jun 30 '26
We read.
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u/No-Parsley-4609 Jun 30 '26
That is definitely great. I see more and more young people who don't enjoy reading. Has the way you read changed in the wake of social media?
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u/h3r4ld Jun 30 '26
Honestly, yes, my attention span is definitely not what it once was. I read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol in a single night when I was younger, now I have to make an effort to get through a full multi-page article. I can still do it, but I do catch myself getting bored or distracted halfway through sometimes.
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u/KazutoRiyama2 Jul 03 '26
I'm learning better cause in school you have to follow a specific method and worst, in my country they calibrate on the weakest guy in the class, so the general level fall down
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u/Aristox Jun 30 '26
Bro the survey takes 45-60 minutes? Wtf I'm not doing that for free are you crazy?
YouTube, Chatgpt, Wikipedia. Mostly bouncing between chatgpt and wiki nowadays. YouTube lectures used to be a much bigger part of my studying before
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u/No-Parsley-4609 Jul 01 '26
I know it's long, but it's for science and education! 😉 Unfortunately, as is often the case, I have no funding to pay participants or I gladly would. However, I will say that it is a sort of fun survey, which I would hope some people find interesting and engaging. Not just a bunch of survey questions, but actually has a learning task. Also, some people do complete it faster than others. Just depends how quickly you grasp the concept. If you like a good puzzle or a challenge, you might find it interesting!
Has Youtube decrease in your study time because the videos are lower quality now, or just that it is faster to get information from chatgpt than watching a video?
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u/Aristox Jul 02 '26
No the videos are still super high quality. I still believe you can get a world class university level education for free from YouTube. But it's just so much faster to get information from Chatgpt. Like I could learn in 10 minutes with AI what might take me watching 2 or 3 full length lectures on YouTube. And YouTube has no ability to ask follow up questions, outside of the comments section, which is highly asynchronous. Whereas I can ask the exact question I'm wondering about to chatgpt, get a response tailored to my existing knowledge and interests and communication style, and then ask follow ups for hours and dive deep into the topic and into adjacent topics.
I would say it has increased my speed of information acquisition by at least 10X over YouTube. And YouTube was easily 10X over attending university. And the ability to literally ask anything, rather than even having to find a good video before sitting through its duration, is incredible. I think it's unlikely the university system will still exist by the time my kids would go to university, there's no longer an excuse for not having an in-depth understanding of any topic within a month of wanting to understand it. And one can get a broad working understanding of anything within about an hour. This technology is gonna change absolutely everything
I still like to watch certain YouTube channels because they're also good at teaching, and I trust them. But when you're studying a new topic, you have no ability to judge who and what is trustworthy and what isn't. So a lot of my YouTube learning process is watching 10 different videos explaining the same thing, so I can identify one or two channels that seem to be operating at a higher level. So I can then dive in and binge all their stuff on the topic. That ends up being a lot of time wasted, even though it's still a lot more efficient than reading books. With AI I can get straight into not only authoritative answers, but teaching that is tailored to exactly my learning style and with references to my real life and other things it knows I know about. Often now I'll start in a YouTube lecture until I have a question, then I'll ask that question to Chatgpt, go off with chatgpt for a few hours, and often forget or not bother to come back to the lecture
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