Learning is something that never ends. There is always information we do not have, and if we are lucky we enjoy learning new things. There are many ways of learning. Some learn best through reading, others take notes and rewrite them repeatedly, and there are also those that learn best through hands-on activities. 

A novice may have no or little knowledge. While an expert is someone that has studied a subject extensively. Depending on the subject matter it will take each learner a different amount of time to progress between the two stages of novice and expert. There are two types of experts, adaptive and routine. Routine experts are good in their own setting but have difficulty when the setting changes. While the adaptive expert is able to use that knowledge across settings. 

I would like to think I am more adaptive than routine. I never know what my job will entail from day to day. I am responsible for training all of our new hires. Being able to recognize how people learn differently helps me adapt each person’s training. I would consider myself an expert in training .

An area where I am still a novice would be in management skills. I am fortunate to have a mentor in my director at work. She has been very encouraging and helps me daily. Along with the classes I have been taking at the University of Cincinnati, I am slowly learning more and figuring out how to be an effective manager. I am also lucky to have recently been selected for a ‘future leaders training’ at work. It is a six month program to help me hone my management skills and place me in a better position to transition to a management role when my degree is finished.

Reflection is helpful in learning, if done effectively. Being able to look at yourself in an objective manner, you can list what your skills and knowledge are, as well as areas where you need to improve. This can be difficult for some people if they do not want admit their weaknesses. I can understand not wanting to list my weaknesses for others to see but this is the best way to learn from them and help correct them.