P.O.W.E.R Learning - Becoming an Expert Student

Chapter One Notes P.O.W.E.R Learning: Becoming an Expert Student Learning Objectives: LO1-1 Explain the benefits of a college education. LO1-2 Identify the basic principles of P.O.W.E.R Learning LO 1-3 Identify your learning styles and how they affect your academic success. This first chapter lays out the basics of P.O.W.E.R Learning and will help determine the way you learn best and how you can use your personal learning style to study more effectively. Chapter One Notes 1.1 Why go to college? Surveys of first year college students show that the vast majority say they want to learn about the things that interest them, get training for a specific career, land a better job, and make more money. The income gap between high school and college graduates averages at about approximately $17,500/year. Added reasons for pursuing a college education: - You’ll learn to think critically and communicate better. Education improves your ability to understand the world – as it is now and prepare to understand it as it will be. You’ll be able to deal with advances in technologies that are changing the world. You’ll acquire skills and perspectives that will shape how you deal with new situations and challenges. You’ll be better prepared to deal with a world of diversity. You’ll make learning a lifelong habit. Chapter One Notes 1.2 1-2 P.O.W.E.R Learning: The Five Key Steps to Achieving Success The Five Key Steps to Achieving Success are as follows: - Prepare - Organize - Work - Evaluate - Rethink P-Prepare “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” - Lao Tzu Setting goals is the best way to plan systematically. Some guidelines for appropriate goal making: - Set both long term and short term goals. - Make goals realistic and attainable. - There is nothing wrong with having big dreams. But it is important to be realistically aware of all that it takes to achieve them. If our long term goals are unrealistic and we don’t achieve them, we may wrongly reason that we are inept and lack ability, thus using this as an excuse for giving up. - State goals in terms of behavior that can be measured against current accomplishments. - Goals should represent some measurable change from a current circumstance. - Choose goals which involve behavior you can control. Chapter One Notes - Identify how your short term goals fit in with your long term goals. - Your goals should not be independent of each other. They should fit together in a larger dream of who you want to become. O- Organize One of the biggest mistakes that students make in college is plunging into an academic project without being organized. There are two kinds of organization: physical and mental. Physical organization involves the mechanical aspects of task completion. Do you have everything you need? The mental aspect of organization is accomplished by considering and reviewing all of the academic skills you’ll need for task completion. Mental organization matters because it provides a context for when you actually begin to work. Organizing paves the way for better subsequent performance and can save you time because you’re less likely to be anxious and end up losing your way. Success comes not from a trial and error approach, but a systematic plan for achievement. We can make our own luck through careful preparation and organization. W – Work Work is the easy part because if you conscientiously carried out the preparation and organization stage, you know exactly where you’re headed and what you need to do to get there. Chapter One Notes Developing a growth mindset and grit Intelligence is something that is not fixed. It is fluid and flexible, and through hard work and effort, people can do better than they ever thought possible. Students who hold a growth mindset believe that individual characteristics can improve through hard work. They challenge themselves to try and increase their success, and are more persistent in the face of obstacles. They try harder. Students holding a growth mindset have grit, perseverance, and passion for long term goals. Those with a fixed mindset believe characteristics are set at birth and don’t want to put in the effort to learn and do better. Finding the motivation to work We use the concept of motivation or lack thereof to explain why we don’t want to work hard. When we do this, we are fooling ourselves. All of us are motivated. The key to success in and out of the classroom is to tap into, harness, and direct that motivation. Effort = Success! The way in which we view the causes of our failure is directly related to our success. Students who see effort and hard work as the reason behind their performance usually do better in college, just as workers who see their job performance this way usually do better in their careers. The greater effort you put forth = the greater chances of success! Tips for keeping motivation alive: Chapter One Notes - Take responsibility for your successes and failures. - Analyze the situation and see what you could have changed to be more successful in the future. At the same time, when you’re successful, think about what you did to bring about that success. - Think positively! - Accept that you cannot control everything. - Develop a growth mindset and cultivate your grit. E- Evaluate The fourth step in the P.O.W.E.R process is to evaluate, which consists of how well the productivity we have created matches our goals for it. Steps in evaluating: - Take a moment to congratulate yourself and feel some satisfaction - Compare what you’ve accomplished with the goals you’re seeking to achieve. - How closely does what you’ve done match what you were aiming to do? - Evaluate your accomplishments as if you were a respected mentor from your past. - Evaluate what you’ve done as if you were your current instructor/supervisor. - Based on your evaluation, revise your work. - Revisions you make as a consequence of your evaluation bring you closer to your final goal. R – Rethink Chapter One Notes Rethinking what you’ve accomplished means bringing a fresh and clear eye to what you’ve done. It involves critical thinking – thinking that involves reanalyzing, questioning, and challenging our underlying assumptions. General framework for using critical thinking to rethink what you’ve accomplished: - Review how you’ve accomplished the task. - Consider approach strategies used. What worked best? What alternatives would work better next time? - Question the outcome. - Take a look at what you have accomplished. Are you happy? Is there something you missed? - Identify your underlying assumptions, and then challenge them. - Consider alternatives rejected earlier. - Ask yourself: What would I do differently if I had the opportunity to try things again? It’s not too late to change courses. - Reconsider your initial goals. Completing the P.O.W.E.R Process Key Points: - Know there’s always another day. Realize that deciding when to stop work is often as hard as getting started. - Use the strategies that already work for you. Chapter One Notes 1.3 Discovering Your Learning Styles A learning style describes one’s way of acquiring, using, and applying knowledge. Our receptive learning style pertains to how we initially receive information from our sense organs. There are four types of receptive learning styles: - Reading/Writing learning style – You prefer information presented visually in a written format. You feel most comfortable reading. People with this learning style should try writing out summaries of information, highlighting and underlining written material, using flash cards, and transforming diagrams and pictures into words. - Visual/graphic learning style – Learn most effectively when material is presented in a diagram or picture. Students with this learning style find it easier to see things in their mind’s eye and visualize a concept. People with this learning style should diagrams and harts and translate words into symbols and figures. - Auditory/verbal learning style – Prefer listening to explanations, podcasts, and audio guides to take in information. People with this learning style should recite material out loud when trying to learn it. - Tactile/ Kinesthetic learning style – Prefers learning by action/doing. People with this learning style should incorporate movement into their study such as tracing diagrams, arranging flash cards, building models, and staying active while learning. Multiple Intelligences: Showing Strength in Different Domains Chapter One Notes Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences offers a unique approach to understanding learning styles and preferences. This theory says we have eight different forms of intelligence: - Logical-mathematical intelligence – involves skills in problem solving and scientific thinking - Linguistic intelligence – linked to the production and use of language - Spatial intelligence – relates to skills involving spatial shapes, contours, and structures - Interpersonal intelligence –found in learners with particularly strong skills involving interacting with others such as moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions. - Intrapersonal intelligence – relates to a particularly strong understanding of one’s own internal aspects and being emotionally intelligent - Musical intelligence – involves skills relating to music - Bodily kinesthetic intelligence –relates to using the body or portions of it (dancers, athletes, etc.) - Naturalist intelligence – identifies exceptional abilities in identifying and classifying problems in nature. Personality Styles Chapter One Notes Our learning styles are influenced by our personality. According to the rationale of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, personality type plays a key role in determining how we react to different situations. The Meyers-Briggs approach suggests that four major personality dimensions are critical to understanding personality types: - Introverts vs. extroverts – A key difference between introverts and extraverts is whether they enjoy working with others. Independence is a key characteristic of introverted learners, while extraverts are outgoing and more affected by the behavior and thinking of others. - Intuitors vs. sensors – Intuitors enjoy being creators and solving problems that require leaps of judgment and get impatient with details. They enjoy taking a big picture approach. Sensors, on the other hand, prefer a concrete, logical approach in which they can analyze the facts of a situation and come to a reasoned conclusion. While good with details, they sometimes miss the bigger picture. - Thinkers vs. feelers – Thinkers prefer logic over emotion. They reach decisions and solve problems by systematically analyzing a situation. In contrast, feeling types rely more on their emotional responses. They are aware of others and their feelings and influenced by their personal values and attachments to others. - Perceivers and judgers – Before drawing a conclusion, perceivers attempt to gather as much information as possible and are open to multiple perspectives. Judgers are quick and decisive, and like to set and accomplish goals and move on to the next task. The Origins of Our Learning Styles Chapter One Notes For many of us, our learning style preferences result from the kind of processing the two halves of our brain “specialize” in. Although the two halves of the brain are interdependent, certain kinds of tasks are more likely to be controlled by a particular half of the brain. Left brain processing concentrates more on tasks requiring verbal competence. For example – thinking, reading, speaking, and reasoning. Information is processed in small, sequential units. Right brain processing concentrates more on the processing of information in nonverbal domains. For example - the understanding of spatial relationships, recognizing patterns and drawings, music, and emotional expression. Some key facts about learning, personality, and processing styles: - You have a variety of learning styles. For any given task or challenge, some types of styles may be more relevant than others. - Your style reflects your preferences regarding which abilities you like to use – not the abilities themselves. Learning styles don’t dictate success: hard work does. - Your style will change over the course of your life. You can learn new styles and expand the range in learning experiences in which you feel comfortable. - You should work on improving your less-preferred styles. Don’t consistently make choices that increase your exposure to preferred styles and decrease your practice with your less-preferred styles. The more you use approaches for which you have less of a preference, the better you’ll get at developing the skills associated with those styles. - Work with others who have different styles. If your supervisor asks you to work in groups, seek out coworkers who have styles that are different from yours. You can learn from observing others’ approaches to tackling tasks. Learning about Learning: The Theories That Explain How You Learn Chapter One Notes Learning styles reflect how each of us prefers to study and approach new information that we encounter in our online classes. Researchers have developed a number of theories to explain learning. Learning theories are broad explanations about how we learn and take different approaches an look at different factors to help us learn. Three main learning theories: - Operant Conditioning Learning Theory: The Reinforcement Behind Learning – Operant conditioning is learning in which a behavior is made more or less likely due to the presence of reinforcers. Reinforcers are things that increase the probability that a behavior will occur again. - Cognitive Learning Theory : The Thoughts behind Learning – Some learning theorists focus on the thought processes that underlie learning. According to cognitive approaches to learning, our cognitions shape the way in which we learn. They look at the importance of observational learning in which we learn by watching and imitating the behavior of other people. - Classical Conditioning Learning Theory: Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit a response after being paired with a different stimulus. This was exemplified in 1927 by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian scientist when he taught a dog how to expect food after ringing a bell. Why Learning Theories Matter Each learning theory has practical implications for helping you learn better. Each of the theories takes a different approach and focuses on different areas of learning. Understanding each theory along with knowledge of your learning styles will help you develop your own personal learning system that can help you become a more successful student. Chapter One Notes Looking Back Key terms and concepts P.O.W.E.R Learning – A system designed to help people achieve their goals based on five steps: Prepare, Organize, Work, Evaluate, and Rethink. Long term goals – Aims relating to major accomplishments that take some time to achieve Short term goals – Relatively limited steps toward the accomplishment of longterm goals Growth mindset – A belief that people can increase their abilities and do better through hard work Grit – Perseverance and passion for long-term goals Fixed mindset – The erroneous belief that individual characteristics, such as intelligence, talent, and motivation, are set at birth and vary little throughout the lifespan Motivation – The inner power and psychological energy that directs and fuels behavior Evaluation – An assessment of the match between a product or activity and the goals it was intended to meet Critical thinking – A process involving reanalysis, questioning, and challenge of underlying assumptions Learning style – One’s preferred manner of acquiring, using, and thinking about knowledge Chapter One Notes Receptive learning style – The way in which we initially receive information Read/write learning style – A style that involves a preference for written material, favoring reading over hearing and touching. Visual/graphic learning style – A style that favors listening as the best approach to learning Auditory/verbal learning style – A style that favors listening as the best approach to learning Tactile/kinesthetic learning style- A style that involves learning by touching, manipulating objects, and doing things Left-brain processing – Information processing primarily performed by the left hemisphere of the brain, focusing on tasks requiring verbal competence, such as speaking, reading, thinking, and reasoning; information is processed sequentially, one bit at a time Right-brain processing – Information processing primarily performed by the right hemisphere of the brain, focusing on information in nonverbal domains, such as the understanding of spatial relationships and recognition of patterns and drawings, music, and emotional expression Learning theory – A broad explanation about how one learns Operant conditioning – Learning in which behavior is modified by the presence of a reinforcer Reinforcer –A thing that increases the probability that a behavior will occur again Classical conditioning – A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus elicits a response after being paired with a neutral stimulus