LEARN with the Memletic Process#

The Memletic Process is five steps to follow while learning any new topic or skill. These steps are Locate , Explore , Arrange , Reinforce , and eNquire . The following diagram outlines these steps:

As you can see above, the first letters (or sounds) of these steps create the mnemonic LEARN. Here’s a summary of each of these five steps:

• Locate. Find content for your course. This may involve using standard books and manuals, however it could also involve getting material from lectures, one-on-one tutoring sessions, the Internet and other references.

• Explore. Work through and understand your content. There are some general principles to follow, such as learning content using the deeper, wider, higher principle. You may also want to try some exploration techniques specific to your personal learning styles.

• Arrange. Prepare your content for memorization, where needed. In this step you select suitable techniques to reinforce the content you’ve explored, and then prepare content to use with those techniques

• Reinforce. In this step, you use the various techniques to reinforce knowledge, skills and behaviors. This book has many different techniques you can apply to various forms of content.

• eNquire. eNquire on your overall progress. Review both the content you’ve learned, as well as the effectiveness of the techniques and processes you’ve used along the way.

This chapter looks at each of these steps in more detail. Two quick points before we begin though. Firstly, you may find that you already use a similar approach when you are learning. That’s fine. The Memletic Process makes each step clear. This helps you understand how the other parts of Memletics fit into your overall learning strategy. It also allows you to compare your current practices and discover if you’re missing any key steps or activities.

Secondly, don’t consider these steps as rigid or prescriptive. You may find that you move back and forward between the steps. In addition, you may not need to do all the steps for every learning objective.

For example, when you explore some material you may find you need more information on a particular topic, and so you go back to the Locate step to find it. Alternatively, when you start to reinforce (and practice) what you’ve learned, you may find you need to explore it further to understand it fully. Lastly, a simple learning objective may allow you to skip the explore step.