One of the great things about living in Tokyo is the opportunity to participate in the vast array of workshops that are offered every season. With Glenn Fraser's Accelerated Study Techniques Workshop, students and adult learners of all stripes will really be hitting the jackpot.

Let's face it: Studying is hard. Courses these days go at dizzying paces with maximum input on complex subjects. For the adult learner with adult responsibilities, finding the time to really take on board and internalize the material is very difficult. And when test results don't reflect the time and effort you've put into studying the material, the experience can become disappointing indeed.

It's an experience Fraser knows too well.

"As a young student I wasn't able to learn well from the standard techniques of reading, lectures and question-and-answer," the Australian workshop facilitator says. "Ultimately, I needed to explore other methods of studying. What I found really turned me on to the whole experience of 'learning,' and the more I learned, the more I realized that just about everybody can benefit from these techniques."

There has been more new information about the brain in the last 20 years than there had been in the previous 100, and it's speeding up, not slowing down. Part of the reason for this research explosion is because of the discoveries with equipment that can detect brainwaves more easily and accurately.

The collective term in the United States for the techniques and methods that help people learn more in less time with better retention is Accelerated Learning. Some of the key features of Accelerated Learning are to reproduce the states and ways in which children learn.

Like children, we do our best learning with the brain in Alpha state, so relaxation is very important. Some studies suggest that taking a few minutes to relax before studying can improve learning by as much as 25 percent.

Children learn via their senses -- they learn by doing. They are active learners. Accelerated Learning explores methods of taking information in via all the senses.

In the academic world our senses get increasingly downplayed with each passing school year. In our early years, learning is maximized utilizing our tactile sense (encouraging the use of such things as textures and modeling clays), kinesthetic sense (games that get us up and moving while still being goal-oriented) and auditory sense (making up songs and stories that carry information). By junior high school we are considered "too old for that sort of thing."

But the fact remains: The senses are important vehicles for learning. By denying the use of our senses we are denying ourselves access to faster, better learning. You can improve your ability to learn if you take the time to practice other modes of learning.

The use of the kinesthetic sense is one of the most overlooked aspects of learning. For example, if you prefer listening to information, then practice moving around as you listen. The use of movement helps us to integrate learning more fully and easily.

"Everyone is basically unique in the way they take in and retain information," says Fraser, "even though we all use the same basic systems.

"How we mix the learning techniques will depend on what suits each of us personally," he says. "In the workshop, I help people discover their unique talents with regard to learning while introducing them to techniques that will set them on a course to better learning."

Some of the biggest proponents of the Accelerated Learning techniques are to be found in Fortune 500 companies. Given the pace of technological advances, it has been suggested that information today has a half-life of only four years. That means that roughly half of what is learned today will be obsolete in four years.

The sheer volume of information that must be assimilated in order to deal with (and further) advances in technology can be absolutely staggering to industry managers. The pace can take its toll on mere human beings; the burnout rate is high.

So perhaps it is not surprising that these companies have reached out to, and embraced, techniques that enable their staff to take on board, and put to use, the avalanche of data that crosses their desks on a daily basis. By doing so, the company can expect to improve productivity and eliminate downtime. That makes the Advanced Study Techniques Workshops a very valuable human resources tool.

While Fraser certainly enjoys working in the corporate environment, recently he has noticed that there is a very vocal demand for his techniques beyond those doors.

"My friends are always asking me to do workshops for them and their classmates," he says. "Just about everyone wants a greater return on the time and effort they put into studying. I've decided it's time to make the techniques available to individuals in workshops that anyone can join.

"Among the most effective techniques I teach in my workshops are 'graphic organizing tools.' By using these alone you can positively improve your memory. With improved recall, test results soar. People really turn on to this one, because it works.

"I also recommend that people bring some kind of recording device. More effective than explaining the benefits of auditory learning is demonstrating its effects. I can get up there and explain all day, but until people use these techniques for themselves, they'll never understand the power in them."

That, for Fraser, is what it's all about: teaching concrete study skills that help people to reach the potential they know they have.

Glenn Fraser of Natural Learning Systems workshop Dec. 12, with further workshops scheduled through January. For more information call (03) 3793-7909, e-mail [email protected]