Life Long Learner
As a child, I lived very close to the airport. I was fascinated by passenger planes, landing gear and flaps deployed, descending over my house so close, you could see faces of the passengers in the windows. Where are those people going? Why are they flying? What holds the plane in the air? How does the pilot control the airplane? All those questions of my youth and I found a joy in discovering the answers. Lately, I’m just a permanent Udemy student.
Practical Application
My learning style is okay with visual and aural, but really takes hold with tactile application. I like to build things and that process helps me learn the concepts in depth. I like to share the things I’ve built too. I’ve found that other people can use my project, study the operational process, put their hands on it and grasp the knowledge set presented. Add an interactive lab worksheet and learning happens!
See Success In Others
Understanding how other people grasp knowledge and skills has become an challenging exercise for me. You can do the cognitive analysis, map out objectives, design a lesson with ADDIE, SAM or UBD, present it well, and still not see the lights come on in the learner. You need to speak in their learning language for the best transfer of knowledge.
Motivating Coach
The uphill climb to a higher knowledge plateau is difficult. I like what Zig Zigglar said, “If you want to be something you’ve never been before, you have to do something you’ve never done before.” The “doing” isn’t easy. It comes with some hard challenges = life, money, family, health, desire, etc. Encouraging a learner to push work through the obstacle to success is so rewarding -whether it’s learning a technical skill or delivering a motivating speech.