Learning is not just an intellectual activity: it involves emotion. To get the best out of one’s learning experience, it is important to decrease stress and build interest as much as one can, and this means developing compassion. Based on Marshall T. Rosenberg’s technique of nonviolent communication, the OSLO method promotes this compassion by alleviating stress and bringing each student as close as possible, within constraints, to his or her ideal learning experience. I created the technique myself, at a time when I was struggling considerably to complete readings at university.

‘OSLO’ requires students to:

1. Observe their behaviours

2. Sense their emotions

3. Listen to their desires

4. Organise their learning system differently

These four steps enable students to develop self-compassion by helping them to meet their needs and thereby encouraging positive change. This brief article will go through each step before concluding with a summary.

Firstly then, the OSLO method requires students to observe the behaviours which trigger their stress. This does not mean judging themselves as ‘good students‘, ‘bad students, ‘dumb kids‘, ‘smart kids‘, ‘failures‘, or ‘successes’. Neither does it mean comparing themselves to others.

Rather, it means observing a specific behaviour, such as spelling the word ‘misogyny’ with two ‘i’s instead of two ‘y’s, spending two hours on a practice exam paper instead of an hour and a half, or illustrating a point with a quotation from an address delivered by Louis XV instead of Louis XVI. Labels such as ‘mistake’, ‘stupid‘ and ‘failure’ can seriously hinder learning, especially if they trigger a stress response such as a headache, sweaty palms or shaking. Students need not judge their behaviour if they are to create a compassionate learning experience with the Oslo method. They need simply to observe it.

Secondly, students should pay close attention to their emotions. Are they feeling bored or interested? Tired or energised? Dispirited or confident? Anxious or calm? Building up a vocabulary of specific emotions is essential to understanding what might be at the root of any learning difficulty.

Thirdly, when adopting the OSLO method, students can identify what it is they might be needing that is making them feel the way they are feeling. If they are feeling stressed, it could be because they need something to eat, a short break, some reassurance from their tutor or some help from an online resource. It depends entirely on the student.

Students need to be open to changing their learning system: to reorganising it. It is not advisable to try the same method over and over again and expect different results each time. Students who are keen to evolve must tweak, add to or subtract techniques that might be helping or hindering their progress.

In conclusion, the ‘OSLO technique deals with four interrelated study concerns in a sequence, creating solutions within situations that may previously have seemed desperate. Students may be very grateful for this technique if it is put into practice, and hopefully teachers can report back their findings from experimenting with this relatively new, but common-sense technique.

by Kyle F, Private Tutor in London