The way I see it, there are three simple skills that one needs to master in order to succeed in any type of learning situation together with other people:

1. Being able to express one’s thoughts and opinions.
2. Being able to criticise the thoughts and opinions of others.
3. Being able to receive criticism by others regarding one’s thoughts and opinions.

In addition, these skills should be combined with the following heuristic:

• Ask if you don’t understand. If you don’t understand the answer, ask again. Repeat until you do understand or until continuing to ask would be potentially harmful. (See flowchart bellow.)

Follow these advices and you’re of to a really good start.