Comprehending Different Learning Abilities

For the past eight weeks I've been reading a book that has open my mind and understanding about different ways of learning. -Learn More Now, By Marcia L. Conner is the title of the text book that accompany the Academic and Career Planning course I am currently taking. This great book covers various concepts to help people understand what type of learner they are and it also provides tips and steps to maximize their learning abilities. Two of the concepts that I enjoy the most learning about were Motivational Styles and Learning Styles.

There are three types of Motivational Styles. The Relationship-Motivated is the type of person that uses social interaction as a way to learn and share learning experiences. There must be a social component in their learning activities. For example, they might prefer class room courses over online courses, they might have study groups. They enjoy the company of people that share the same interest. I guess I now understand the group of students that would always linger in the lobby after the World History class.

The Learning-Motivated and the Goal-Motivated are the other two styles, and the ones I relate to the most. Learning-Motivated equals to the people that just love to learn anything new. They might love to read a lot, search the internet for anything or everything, watch learning programs on the TV. Although that's not 100% me, I do relate to the example the book gives about gathering as much information as I possibly can about a destination when I plan a trip. And yes, occasionally I do find myself at night surfing the internet reading about something someone mentioned during the day. And then the Goal-Motivated, that's totally me, it's the kind of people that sees learning as a tool to achieve something. We focus on something and learn as much as we can to reach that goal. For example at work I like to be recognized for what my position is called "The subject matter expert", that's why I'm always seeking out to learn everything related to my job. It's a great satisfaction to be able to solve any problem a customer brings and have them leave the office with a big smile, happy.

Another concept discussed is Learning Styles. Three categories falls under Learning Styles: Visual Learner, Auditory Learner and Tactile/Kinesthetic Learner. I categorize myself primary as a visual learner. We, the visual learners, understand, process, and remember things better if they are presented with charts, pictures, slides etc. When something is being described to us, we usually create a mental picture/movie of it to grasp better the idea. It came to my attention that a lot of people are visual learners. At the discussion board most of the students turned out to be this type. I also realized, that must be the reason why all of the meetings I attend to at work are presented with a lot of graphics and slides.

The second category is the Auditory Learner. This category splits into two types; the auditory listener