What is your learning style?

[Voltekka_MK3]

I am curious to know how you guys learn stuff.

The way i learn is in a very linear and organized way where i go through "levels" like you would when you play a platforming game like Super Mario Bros. and you go through different stages to advance to the next level.

 

[The Penguin]

I am a visual learner. I learn best if people show me what to do or watch videos. Written instructions is not effective with me as I normally have trouble trying to understand due to my reading abilities.

 

[Ylva]

I love reading. It's hard to forget something I have read or heard. It's the other way around with motor skills, though; I often have a hard time remembering what I did last time.

 

[Judge]

I can't apply it to just anything, but I do seem to do well in learning things through identifying patterns of things and being able to draw some kind of conclusion from them.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I'm visual. I learn by dvd's and pictures. If I'm learning written info, I have to highlight EVERYTHING. You should see my notes (you may need sunglasses) because everything is highlighted in yellow, orange and pink. I usually look at my notes before I go to sleep at night or before I take a nap and I can "visually" see them because of the bright colors.

 

[apsie]

I sort of reverse engineer, if that makes sense.
Break down what I know in to small bits and out it all back together, that way I can link new information to old information.
When I'm succesfull at it, I know just about everything I need to about any given subject.

Anyone else would find my approach chaotic, but to me its not at all.

 

[invisible]

I tend to like reading something or seeing a diagram. I don't normally follow verbal explanations that well so videos and demonstrations are OK provided that they actually demonstrate the thing (there are some YouTube videos which just contain someone talking and I'd rather read a transcript in that case). I don't like it when someone explains something just by talking - in that case I usually tell them to talk slower and I often interrupt them to ask for a clarification or to repeat something (it's really annoying when people refuse to explain it again immediately - no, I need the clarification NOW otherwise I'm lost completely!!!). When I'm explaining something to someone else I tend to like using diagrams more because I find that I struggle to explain something clearly in terms of words, written or spoken.

 

[zurb]

I need to know why. If I understand it, I remember it. If I don't understand it, I won't remember.

And don't just talk, I need to see it.

 

[Judge]

If I'm learning written info, I have to highlight EVERYTHING.

Me too. Whenever I'm creating a new portfolio for a particular stock I may buy, I highlight anything of note with a yellow magic marker. Sometimes I'll highlight entire paragraphs if they are important. It stands out. My eyes don't miss the contrast.

 

[invisible]

Yes I need to know why as well and everything has to be explained thoroughly and analysed in great depth (and if it isn't then I need to carry that step out myself before I can carry on). And yes, I don't like it when people just talk. Show me what you're saying, whether it's a demonstration of this woodworking technique that you're describing or a worked example in a Maths book.

 

[invisible]

Me too. Whenever I'm creating a new portfolio for a particular stock I may buy, I highlight anything of note with a yellow magic marker. Sometimes I'll highlight entire paragraphs if they are important. It stands out. My eyes don't miss the contrast.

I don't like highlighting anything because then I just get hung up on establishing a set of rules for the highlighting and not actually getting on with what I'm reading/writing. For me highlighting is more of a distraction than an aid.

 

[May Black]

Reading and writing notes, then reading the notes if I have to. I can memorize just about anything for a short period of time. If I am to remember it for real I need to find a pattern in it though.

 

[Judge]

I don't like highlighting anything because then I just get hung up on establishing a set of rules for the highlighting and not actually getting on with what I'm reading/writing. For me highlighting is more of a distraction than an aid.

Interesting. I could see people with such considerations. Sometimes I can be that organized myself...

In this instance though, I deal with paperwork having a whole lot of unnecessary text in fine print. For me that bright yellow highlighting acts a "filter" of sort...so my eyes don't pour over information I don't need the next time I refer to it. In this respect, it's almost a form of time management to me.

 

[invisible]

Interesting. I could see people with such considerations. Sometimes I can be that organized myself...

In this instance though, I deal with paperwork having a whole lot of unnecessary text in fine print. For me that bright yellow highlighting acts a "filter" of sort...so my eyes don't pour over information I don't need the next time I refer to it. In this respect, it's almost a form of time management to me.

That's an interesting use of highlighting but for me that would just end up in an attempt at trying to objectively decide what text is classed as "fine print" and then measuring the correct border to leave around the text being highlighted.

 

[invisible]

I usually look at my notes before I go to sleep at night or before I take a nap and I can "visually" see them because of the bright colors.

I can visualise a page and then I can look for the relevant information by remembering where it is on the page. I can't read from the visual image of the page but remembering where something is on the page brings the information contained there back into my mind. That is why I don't like separate revision guides and notes - for me revising is getting a strong image of each page of the book and making a firm link between the image of the page and the information, not about going over facts. Reading the same thing in more than one place makes it more difficult for me to remember because I can't visualise it, I can only remember at as words.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

My visual way helps for tests as I can "see" the pages when I close my eyes during a test, but it's not good for long term. Like I've said in another thread - I have a long short-term memory and a short long-term memory.

I can visualise a page and then I can look for the relevant information by remembering where it is on the page. I can't read from the visual image of the page but remembering where something is on the page brings the information contained there back into my mind. That is why I don't like separate revision guides and notes - for me revising is getting a strong image of each page of the book and making a firm link between the image of the page and the information, not about going over facts. Reading the same thing in more than one place makes it more difficult for me to remember because I can't visualise it, I can only remember at as words.

 

[Judge]

That's an interesting use of highlighting but for me that would just end up in an attempt at trying to objectively decide what text is classed as "fine print" and then measuring the correct border to leave around the text being highlighted.

That's the sort of decision I can make in a second without hesitation. But then I spent nearly two decades in a position where on a daily basis I had to often make nearly instant qualitative and quantitative decisions involving very large amounts of money. You get used to it, but if you screw up there were consequences.

After all these years I'm still not sure if this was an acquired OJT skill or an individual talent. I certainly worked with others with similar tasks. Of course the turnover of employees in my department was high as well.

 

[Judge]

My visual way helps for tests as I can "see" the pages when I close my eyes during a test, but it's not good for long term. Like I've said in another thread - I have a long short-term memory and a short long-term memory.

I'm reminded of people saying they'd have a beer during studying, only to have one just before their college exam. Claiming it "worked". Never tried it myself!

There are lots of techniques to learning things I suppose...but you have to wonder how many of them can be "exported" in general.

 

[Kari Suttle]

It depends on what is being learned - a lot of the time i am a very visual learner, but if its something i'm obsessing over then something as simple as reading an article on it will suffice. But generally, i'm a visual learner. If its a task, i learn best watching it be done and then practicing it myself. But even with reading something, visually learning helps cause i'm always picturing the exact text of what i read (or perhaps an image or diagram that went with a textbook).

 

[Rocco]

I tend to like reading something or seeing a diagram. I don't normally follow verbal explanations that well so videos and demonstrations are OK provided that they actually demonstrate the thing (there are some YouTube videos which just contain someone talking and I'd rather read a transcript in that case). I don't like it when someone explains something just by talking - in that case I usually tell them to talk slower and I often interrupt them to ask for a clarification or to repeat something (it's really annoying when people refuse to explain it again immediately - no, I need the clarification NOW otherwise I'm lost completely!!!). When I'm explaining something to someone else I tend to like using diagrams more because I find that I struggle to explain something clearly in terms of words, written or spoken.

This is very much like my own self! I have fluctuating difficulty understanding spoken words. Show me, show a diagram or schematic, let me read it, and TOUCH/FEEL.
Lectures are difficult. I have had a few professors whom I now suspect as being Aspies, and their lectures were beautiful. I had a history class with a lawyer professor who's special interest was clearly history. I took every class Mr K had, we had two tests and no homework.
Either learning from an eloquent Aspie, or writing/reading/diagram.

Ps. Hello Invisible! Welcome to the good team