My, how meta we are today.

Currently studying learning styles, learning intelligences, and learning strategies.
This entire Master's thing is so much fun.

Most of us know about the different types of learners. We've used it as an excuse for years as to why we didn't do as well as (insert THAT GUY here) on the exam.
"If only my teacher knew I was a VISUAL learner!" we wail in anguish as they ramble on indefinitely without a graph, picture, or powerpoint in sight.
Then there are the poor Kinesthetic learners who are convinced the entire education system is out to get them. 50 minutes of sitting still, "taking notes" then 10minutes to run across campus only to sit for 50 more minutes. When will it be lab day when I can actually DO something? Oh wait. This class doesn't have a lab component. Well, I'm boned.
Auditory learners, you poor kids. What's the point of a 50 page reading? I could read that book all day and still have no idea what the general topic is.

Sigh everyone is out to get us. All of us. Worthless educational program, not understanding MY needs. Only after my monies...

Have a bit of fun. Take one of the "Multiple Intelligences" test.
I liked this one, it's a self scoring excel spreadsheet (complete with graph for all you visual -spatial learners!)

I really was not that surprised with my results. I've always known I'm a left-leaning brain. I can do right-sided things, but it takes some work around. A bit of synestheia helps too. I scored the same on almost every category with the exception of musical/rhythmic (got none) and intrapersonal (much higher.)

After discussing the styles of learning, we moved on to strategies for learning.
They listed three.
Concept Maps
Mental Imagery
Storytelling

For those nurse's out there I don't have to explain Concept Maps. They're pretty much the pillars of nursing education. Draw a bunch of pictures to represent your patient and what's wrong with them and all the things we will do to fix them (don't forget to include how they feel about it!)

Mental Imagery dealt with that initial "gut" understanding or visualization of an idea. Those pictures you automatically associate with words. Triggered by language or music. It allows people to see the "big picture." Based on socialization and indoctrination if you ask me. How do I know when I say "tiger" if you're thinking of a Bengal or White tiger?

Storytelling- Acting out the scenario. This is the part of your CPR class when they tell you you've found a 40 year old unconscious on the golf course. "Hey! Are you ok? You, call 911. You, get the AED." Etc. Or, for example, when I was a baby nurse and freaking out about all the little things (IV starts, etc.) I wrote myself a little short story involving a new grad and the zombie-apocalypse while she was working a night-shift. Really helped me with my triage skills. ;)


Then it ended saying that another method of storytelling is blogging about your learning experience.
Whee.

All the while I was envisioning myself in my dream job, using all these skills to develop the most awesome educational materials ever.
Ah, the power of daydreams.