Unit 11 Learning Styles

If my undergrad was learning to learn, my master’s seems to have become learning to learn online, or learning to learn 2.0.

I am astonished to find in 672 that I am drawn to the practical so strongly in opposition to the theoretical, if I may toss these fuzzy terms into opposition for the sake of simple communication.

At the beginning of this course I had one week's exposure to HTML and MySQL, zero knowledge of the CLI and Linux, no knowledge of what the words "open source" really meant nor what a server was exactly, and, last but not least, was extremely nervous in general concerning technology. So, one can imagine what attempting to set up a demo system implementing the LAMP architecture has meant to some one like me, or can you?

Well, that is why I mention the practical in opposition to the theoretical above. I have been keeping learning style notes during this class and all was going well until some outside factors overwhelmed my life for a few weeks. I describe the learning flow previous to this as laminar and the result turbulence (hydrology metaphors concerning flows).

Laminar works great for the course style with me but any turbulence creates a situation where I feel as though I need to tweak the course to my personal circumstances. I was pleased by the sudden appearance of the last 4 or 5 units all at once in the final weeks of the course. This allowed me to attempt to recover from turbulence by adjustments, troubleshooting my learning methods and study habits ...

As I write this I am woefully behind so one can judge the success of my learning style in this course, but for delving into a topic I am so new to I feel that this course has been a success for me personally. Academically, I would be happy with a passing grade but I knew that my grades would probably take a hit by immersing myself in my own digital summer but I am very gratified by the results. I know, as Marisa Hudspeth mentioned today in one of the final discussion posts of the course when she referred to knowing what a "LAMP stack" was when one was mentioned at a meeting, that I have come such a long way. I can now ask even better questions at the 24/7 support center here on the U of A campus, for instance!