Reflective

When I first signed up for this course, I believed it would be an introductory course concerning American Military University (AMU). I figured we would cover how to use the internet, how to access the on-line library, and chat with classmates. To my surprise, the course was more; much more. This course opened my eyes to the various concepts of learning, to include how to learn better, smarter and faster. In addition, it taught me and thing or two about me and how I learn. First thing I learned about me was my learning style.

The book, "Learn More Now", really shed some light on my learning style. I discovered that my primary learning style is a Visual Learner. I never really thought about this until I began to read this chapter and started to make correlations between the book and how I actually learn. I process information better when I am able to watch a problem worked out; I have trouble processing the same information if I have to read it. I am going to incorporate some of the tips the book has offered to enhance my learning abilities. For example, asking someone that is explaining a task to write it down, or draw a picture is one tip. My wife gets frustrated when she explains something to me and I am not able to understand it; I think this technique will help. Also, having someone demonstrate the problem will increase by ability to understand and learn. I was taking a math class and I was not able to get the homework problem, even though the book outlined the steps. However, the next day in class the instructor solved the same problem, but I was able to understand it better when he showed me on the board, explaining how he arrived at each step. Another concept I learned deals with learning my body and how it learns.

Learning to be in tune with my body has really helped me. I have begun to perform some of the exercises discussed in the book. When I become bored or disinterested while studying, I will get up and move around to stimulate the senses. Also, I will notice which body positions are the most comfortable and I learn the best at. For me, on my bed with my legs stretched out and sitting up with my back against the head-board. Body position is something I never considered in the past. I would just sit down and start studying, not realizing that I would move around constantly trying to get comfortable. By doing this, it took away for my concentration and I didn't maximize my ability to learn.

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