assignment 1a&b - learning style survey

My learning style survey results:

Activist – Very strong

Reflector – Moderate

Theorist – Moderate

Pragmatist – Low

After taking the learning styles survey, my results showed that I was a very strong activist, a moderate reflector and theorist and a low pragmatist. This means that I apparently “like to be involved in new experiences and are enthusiastic about new ideas. They enjoy doing things and tend to act first and consider the implications afterwards. They are unlikely to prepare for the learning experience or review their learning afterwards.” I do agree with this to some extent in that I know that I like getting stuck into a new project or idea, working along with others in a team is something I usually really enjoy although I have sometimes been told that I just want to get on with a task a little too fast, but have become aware of this and I am learning to not be a rash but to think things through more before starting a new task. I suppose this is reflected as the test shows that I am a moderate reflector and theorist showing that I do view things from different perspectives which a agree with as I would find myself to be a rather level headed person who likes to hear all sides of a story before making my own opinion. I found being described as a low pragmatist was rather interesting as I would describe myself as someone who is eager to try out new tasks although I do agree with this being the lowest as the other topics do seem to describe me better.

[team meeting - discussing each others results to the survey]

My guess and their real results for my fellow team members:

(their real results will be enclosed in [ ] )

· Brogan Keenan – Activist/Theorist. [theorist/reflector] Brogan seems to get very excited about a new task and steps right into getting it done as soon as possible. She appears to be good at not rushing the tasks but making sure they are done properly and so I would say is a combination of an activist and a theorist.

· Sarah Mowbray - Theorist. [activist/pragmatist] Sarah seems to take great care in her work, making sure that he knows what she is doing before she goes about completing a task. She is good at thinking through the different options, taking it step by step before deciding on the best idea to go forward with.

· Jaqui Page - Theorist. [reflector] Jaqui appears to think tasks through very thoroughly before taking another step. She seems to take a lot of care and pride in her work making sure everything is done properly and neatly showing her perfectionist side.

· Thomas Marriner - Activist/Reflector. [reflector] Thomas seems to get into a project pretty easily and with excitement. He appears to take his thinking to a deeper level and think everything through quite a bit before expressing his opinion. He seems to enjoy hearing other peoples opinions on ideas and enjoys being able to put his knowledge into practice.

· Emma Thompson -Reflector/Theorist. [pragmatist] Emma is really good at taking a step back and analysing different aspects of the situation. She seems to think new tasks through and always presents her work very neatly showing she is a perfectionist.

· Liberty Thompson – activist. [activist] Libby gets really excited about new ideas and projects and always seems to be up for the challange. Shes really good at taking a leadership roll and working in a team, getting others involved.

When we were discussing what we each thought each others learning styles where it seemed easiest to guess who the activists where. I think this is due to them usually being louder, more verbal or the ones that would usually lead our team discussions. The others are sometimes hard to define between until you look a little more into the persons personality. As we do not all know each other that well yet it was a little difficult to work out their learning style as our meetings are usually discussions which is maybe why the activist role was more obvious. Within our team we had a pretty even number of activists, theorists and reflectors (3 of each) with only 1 pragmatist.

Within our team work together we discussed how it is important to look at every onesdifferent learning styles and the qualities of the different types. These then need to be taken into consideration when working together as a team, knowing who is best at the different roles. We also all agreed that sometimes it is useful to learn to be more like the other learning types, for example, let others take on the leader role that the activist can show enabling others to become more confident in leading a discussion. Or for the activist to take a more reflective outlook, taking a bit longer to come up with their idea and thinking the idea through step by step before rushing into it. Within our group it was also interesting to see how some people expected others to be activists but when this was put forward they were very shocked that they appeared to be an activist and said they didn't see themselves like that at all.

I find that sometimes I can rush into a project or task to fast and I know I should spend more time thinking about what i'm going to do first therefore I admire the more reflective/pragmatic view and so try to bring this into my thought/work process more.

goodbye 2010 hello 2011

another year over, another one of those times where you reflect on the past and look to the future, make new resolutions, set out new ideas and plans. i sat down a couple of days after new years to make a resolution - only a few minutes later, i came up with 29! just little things I want to change this year....you know what they say, its the little things that make a big difference. I know im not the kind of person that will set a big task and stick to it - who does?! so I reckoned it was best to have lots of little things. keeping up to date on my blog was one of those - so here goes!

new year. new ideas.

on new years day I was out for a walk with my family around a little village I have grown up with on the north coast of ireland. I was walking through a pretty nice part of the village, with lots of nice houses, some really old, some empty, some obvious holiday homes, some that are in the process of being built. It started a conversation with my dad about all the houses, talking about each one as we went along, about the different features we liked about them etc which rather swiftly moved on to a life chat about want I was planning on doing with my life! yikes! quite the biggie for new years day. but it was good. chat is good. thinking it out loud was good.

I'm pretty sure I want to do something about sustainability...about changing peoples ideas of sustainability....get rid of that "sustainability??what??" attitude and making them realise its really not all that confusing and that people make it out to be so much more than what it actually needs to be to make a difference. little things. big difference. its how I roll....

so what now? I suppose I need to keep thinking/investigating/enquiring into this idea. what have others done? what people think now and how this can be changed? its a pretty big field out there but i want to start to learn more about sustainability in interiors, in renovation and how we can change little things within the design of housing/small buildings to make them more sustainable/self sufficient etc. With the current recession and economic climate people aren't building as much, aren't spending as much and are cutting back big time, wanting to know how they can save money in any way possible. how can this be helped and changed through making people away of the need to change?