Assignment 4.2 – Personal Development Journal
Completing the various learning style assessments has been a
strong learning experience for me. On the VAK assessment I am Auditory; on VARK
I am Read/Write; on the Felder assessment I am Sensing, Verbal, Sequential, and
Balanced Active/Reflective. Although it may seem contradictory, they all kind
of work together. Obviously I am not 100% on any of them, but rather a blend of
all of them. For instance, I thought the Auditory and Verbal ones were off—I
sometimes get confused by verbal information and I am definitely not a polished
speaker. But I do focus on the task at hand, like sequential and specific bits
of information, can memorize well (but not for as long as I used to), process
information methodically, and prefer concrete information.
After digesting all the information describing my learning
styles, it became apparent to me that just reading the text isn’t enough for me
to understand everything. Just a lecture is not sufficient either. If I try and
take notes during a lecture, I cannot focus on what is being said and I get
lost. If I were in a classroom situation, I think a lecture accompanied by a
written outline of points would be ideal. Since I take an online class, that is
not an option. I am going to try reading the text (out loud when necessary) and
writing down points I need to research further.
I understand now why I read out loud (to myself) when I am
having difficulty understanding the material, and talk myself through the steps
when I try to complete a process I am not very familiar with. I couldn’t figure
out why I like clear, concise (and verbal) directions or explanations; but if someone
starts giving me a lot of information quickly and in random order, I am totally
lost. There is more to figure out, but I think I am on the right path. I hope
to use this new insight to be able to communicate with people better—both on a
personal and professional level. If I don’t understand what I heard, I need to
ask for clarification and not just feel lost. Likewise, when speaking to
others, I need to make sure I was clear in what I said, or if I left them dazed
and confused.
Learning about our learning preference styles was more helpful than I originally thought it would be. I really appreciate your comments on how you questioned some of the results - and how you are using the information going forward. That makes sense because at first it felt like I would wear my results like a label! Your insight here helped me think through some of my ideas about my results. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was quite a revelation, really. At first sight, some of the characteristics just didn't make sense with the way I thought I learned. But the more I read and discovered, pieces began falling into place! I'm glad I could share that "aha" with you!
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