Australian College of Natural Health

The learning guides are your ‘compass to competency’. They:

1. describe the skills you need to demonstrate; and

2. provide a wealth of information and activities designed to develop your abilities.

The important thing to remember is that they are not text books. They are guides to learning.

So, what do you need to do to use them effectively?

• Begin by reading through the evidence required for competency.

  Once you know what’s required, think about what you already know. Do you have experiences and skills in the area? Can you meet the elements and performance criteria? If you can, contact your facilitator straight away. If you can’t look carefully at:
  
  - the elements
  - the amount of material in each element
  - the assessment tasks.
  
  This preliminary view of the learning guide will give you some idea of the amount of work you need to undertake. You can use this knowledge to divide your study into manageable ‘chunks’. You may decide, for instance, to tackle element one in three separate study sessions, stopping the sessions when you reach the end of one topic and the beginning of the next.  

• Read through the information carefully and make sure you understand the material
  
  Some of the units are very long and cover quite complicated and interesting competencies. If you encounter ideas or theories that you don’t understand, either:
  
  - talk to your facilitator
  - research the area in one of the books or articles listed under resources
  - discuss the issue with your workplace supervisor.
  
  Don’t ever be afraid of asking for assistance. Your facilitator is there to help in any way she or he can.  

• Relate the information to what you already know.

  To make the most of your learning guide, don’t just read the information. Ask yourself questions as you go, for example, ‘do I know patients/clients who behave this way?’ ‘could this apply to me?’ ‘What if….?’

  By making these personal links with the material you’re building on what you already know as well as adding new skills and information into your outlook.

  Talk to people about your study and the skills you’re learning.

  Talking about new ideas and skills is a great way to reinforce them. You can share experiences with other learners, massage therapist you meet and interested family and friends.

• Make notes.
  
  Most successful learners find it useful to make notes as they go. They may write comments in the margins of the learning guide, linking new ideas to past experiences or asking themselves how a piece of information relates to something in another unit. Or they may keep a diary where they jot down interesting bits of information.  

• Work through the activities.

  Most of the activities are very straight forward. If, however, you’re unclear as to what’s required. Think carefully about the way the question or activity is phrased. It may help to read the section and activity again. If you try this and you’re still confused (and the answer haven’t been provided) either talk to your peers, contact your facilitator or speak to someone with authority.