My first Whiteboard post on hyperlearning: this year, learn new ways of learning faster

This year, I have started to write for a new online magazine: whiteboardmag.com. It describes itself as a site for European innovators, entrepreneurs and thought leaders. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with this community and getting some insights to further refine hyperthinking into a practical concept for day to day use in our turbulent times.

My first post, to kick start the year, is about hyperlearning. Check it out:

The new mantra of the tech world is that the world is changing fast, and that most of us are not prepared. Although this is clearly true, saying it doesn’t really help.

When you watch a presentation, read an article or a book on the dramatic changes brought about by technology, there always seems to be an element of magic. Someone has created a Facebook group, a youtube video or a blog post that has somehow miraculously garnered millions of views, toppled a government (Egypt) launched a global star (psy) or annoyed a large company (Gizmodo). In the face of this constant barrage of anecdotes we are left to wonder what we can really do about it.

As anyone who ever tried knows, creating a viral video is nearly impossible, at least if it implies replicating the success of Kony 2012 or Gangnamstyle. These gravity defying stories simply don’t seem to have a rational explanation.

But in the face of such unpredictable change and surprises, there are two things that we can know for certain;

1. We don’t know much.
2. We need to start learning – fast and furious.

The acknowledgement that we know very little about the changes that are taking place enable us to embrace a more humble attitude than our hyperspecialzied world and education system has led us to. If we recognise that there is a great deal we do not know, then we can open our mind to learning,
and to being wrong more often than not.

Learning, revisited

Second, by this ‘ground zero’ approach, we can revisit how we need to learn. And some things become clear: our education system didn’t prepare us for the world we live and work in today. Most universities are barely starting to change to respond to an entirely new learning paradigm. And for good reasons: the role of the institutions that deliver knowledge is being put into question. We simply don’t know how learning will evolve over the coming decade. But we know that it will change. And we can also assume that it will change around the individual.

With this in mind we can already start, not waiting for our school system to catch up with the internet, to challenge and reshape our learning habits. This is what I have called ‘hyperlearning’ in my recent book where I develop an overall concept to adapt to the age of networks called hyperthinking.

 

Hyperlearning is the new learning model I believe we are heading towards. And it boils down to some simple principles:

1. We need to become self-learners
2. We need to master new tools and a new self-discipline
3. We need to form new habits
4. This is going to be fun