Well … I didn’t include the Futurism poster. I coded it, got it working … and then took it out and posted the assignment.
Just can’t break the rules.
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Another set of adjectives for you all: I don’t know where this idea was sparked, an earlier class or conversation or blog post; but there was a challenge to describe (for your own benefit) your own learning style and best learning environment.
Several findings from social psychology sprang to mind, but then I got into it. Experiments aside, social psych aside, what have I found works for me? I have 40+ years of experience at this, maybe I can find some patterns.
My learning style, I have decided, is thorough, detailed, and tenacious. It’s also strongly visual (I have to read things), followed by hands on, followed (very distantly) by listening. And if I’m really going to get it, I have to write it down myself.
I have to read material multiple times. The first time is to get the overall point. The second time is to get the structure of how we’re all going to get to this point. The third time is to identify what sections I already know and don’t know. The fourth time is to dig into the parts I don’t know and slowly work through whatever is necessary to fix that. The fifth time is to pretend I’m explaining it to someone and put all the parts into my own words (and fix anything that bogs me down). The sixth time is to slowly read the whole thing and verify that I understand, at each juncture, both the parts and the whole.
I’ve wasted a lot of energy trying to read things in depth the first time, and to berate myself for having to read things over and over. But hey – that’s someone else’s learning style. By stepping back and figuring out that I have a learning style, and that if I let it work for me it works very well for me, I’ve stopped berating myself for not being someone else.
I also do better in the late afternoon and mid to late evening (there’s a gap between about 5 and 8 where I should just take a break). I do better with soft instrumental music, neutral temperature, and the slight possibility of interruption.
Anyway …. if you haven’t stepped back and figured out your own learning style, you should. There’s always something new to learn, and it’s a lot more fun if you understand how you’re learning it.
For example: so many folks say how great You Tube is for learning things. I can not learn from You Tube. It’s all listening, and I do not learn well that way. I get a lot out of videos when I’m just filling in details. But I know better than to start with You Tube, and that has saved me a lot of grief.