Aptitude and Attitude in Learning

The world is changing at a fast pace. Suddenly, with the uneasiness caused by Covid19, the world also has to deal with the uncertainty of the future.  In such heavy lay-offs and cost-cutting scenarios, organizations are looking to recruit candidates who are not only fit to do the work but also learn new skills quickly. While the earlier importance was put on the attitudinal aspects now there is increasing need to merge both aptitude and attitude while recruiting employees. 

“Increasingly, the skillset for tasks needed today is becoming obsolete,” says Sebastian Reiche, an associate professor at Spain’s IESE Business School (University of Navarra). “Organisations need to find candidates who are able and willing to continuously develop and update their skills.”

This viewpoint demands a re-evaluation of what organizations are looking for in candidates. While aptitude tests were quite a regular feature, organizations are also keen to assess candidates’ attitude to update skills and leadership role and development. This starts at the undergraduate level wherein the learners get to fine-tune their attitude to learn with the aptitude or the area of specialization.

Aptitude to learn is the prime indicator of whether a chosen mode of learning and subject of specialization is truly in congruence with the person’s ability or not. Aptitude in learning means that a person has general skills and the willingness to learn. When talking about a degree course or specialization it refers to the specific skills and the willingness to learn in context of a particular profession and its settings.  

Attitude to learn has a far reaching impact in a person’s life (including education). Ability and willingness to learn stems from students’ attitudes. If a student has a negative attitude, their education is hampered. Changing students’ negative attitudes towards learning into a positive one requires effecting change which is a slow process. This is because attitude is a learned behavior and is highly susceptible to change as age increases. Positive reinforcement ie. to reward good behavior is one way to affect the change. The attitude to learn develops over a period of time and learning experiences of the past impact the future ones. Therefore, it is important that the learning in the undergraduate and graduate level has to be encouraged positively.

There are 5 ways to go about with the building of positive attitude towards learning:

1. Motivation is the strongest contender towards soaring the learning attitude graph. Through various rewards, opportunities and projects, learners are motivated to learn and improve.

2. Making learning goals and keeping a track on them. This is done through various ways. Making lists, involving buddy check and feedback, guided method involving parents, college faculty or an expert.

3. Peer Learning is one of the very successful methods of keeping the learning on roll. This is advantageous due to comparative note taking, swapping and complementing the work completion and also helping each other learn better. Have a buddy or a classmate who is good in certain subjects that you need attention to have peer learning interactions.

4. Make organizers or planners and be self guided in learning. Goals that are small and attainable can be started off with moving on to bigger ones. Trying to be efficient in making learning better through planners and journals helps again keep track of learning. Here the important role is that of self-motivation to see through the tasks.

5. It can’t be serious if it is a slap dash method. You have to be committed to your learning for a long time to be able to have an impact on your education positively. You have to make your learning last long and this attitude will help you gain better foothold on your learning milestones too.

So, to lead you again to the point, once you develop a positive attitude to learn and when that is combined with your aptitude, you can be assured of happy placement offers, better adjustment in the work environment and willingness and ability to transfer the knowledge gained in college into the world of work.