From: shava@hermes.oit.unc.edu (Shava Nerad Averett)
Subject: Learning Styles
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 22:48:28 GMT

The recent discussions of nlp and education bring to mind an issue having
to do with learning which I believe is pertinent to magick.  

Formal magick is a largely literate/intellectual art, as we discuss it.
There is a great deal of pooh-poohing of non-literate traditions from some
quarters, and the entire focus of some people on magick as science comes
from a western academic tradition.  No problem with this -- but it is only
one view.

As Leo (I think) said recently (reminding me of Idries Shah...) a large
part of his study is 'learning how to learn.'

In my experience working as (among other aspects of my job[s]) a computer
trainer, I have found that people learn in very different styles.  I ask
for the tolerance of the psych and ed people out there, since I haven't
studied this formally...

I have a taxonomy of learning styles which is not complete, nor is each
category exclusive.  But I find that people tend to be oriented towards
one of three styles of learning:

	Think -- study first, do later, integrate somewhere in the process
	Feel -- conceptualize and integrate, then do and study
	Do -- play with and do things, study, and then integrate

Most academic types are Thinks.  These are people who find it easy to learn
by 'reading the book/manual.'  Many hackers are Do/Think types; they can
study, but they often prefer to play with the system and experiment as
a preferred path of learning about it.  Feels are the people for whom it
is most important that they realize the importance and meaning of a skill
before they attempt to begin to acquire it.  These people often need to
feel inspired before they enter into a new enterprise -- at which point
they are often immersed to the point of obsession...

I was once commissioned as a consultant to teach the manager of a small
non-profit organization (male) to teach him and his secretary (female)
basic DOS literacy, and how to use Lotus 123 (a spreadsheet, for those
who, like me, prefer not to travel in DOS circles...;).  "Be gentle with
Sarah, though," he advised me.  "She's kind of a dummy about computers."

When I arrived to teach these folks I noticed that I would explain something,
demonstrate it on the machine, and John would get it straight off.  Then
Sarah would have to ask, "Could you tell me about this again?"  So I would
go thru it again, while John stood behind Sarah shaking his head privately
at me as if to say "I told you so...!"  I found this more than a little
patronizing, since Sarah seemed to be picking up more detail, really,
than John...

So, the next thing I had to show, I said, "Watch this."  And I performed
a task.  Then I explained what I just did.  Sarah caught on immediately
(she was more of a Do).  John had to say, "Could you show me that again?"

I confess, I spent the rest of the session adapting my teaching to Sarah's
learning style (show, explain, then allow her to replicate what I did).
It was clear that she was the one who would be doing most of the work on
the computer anyway.  I suspect that John is mystified to this *day* as
to what might have been going on, that he suddenly had so much trouble, 
and Sarah's IQ had seemingly gone up so quickly.

Sarah, on the other hand, whether she picked up on the mechanism or not,
appreciated the attention, and when I saw her months later, thanked me
again for making her 'feel better about the damnable machine.'

The point of this is that many of us deal better in a learning environment
where we can *see* and *do* things with others, rather than try to get
them from books.  This does not reflect on a person's relative intelligence,
but rather on their adaptability to academic culture, if anything.

I personally consider myself to be a Feel/Think, in this system, and it
is important to me to be able to integrate systems as I learn them.  One
of the best ways for me to do this is to be able to find a person with 
whom I can relate closely to teach me.  Once I learn something, I can 
teach it to just about anyone, although I might not be able to express
it in words for an arbitrary (to me, impersonal) audience.

Shamanic traditions, for example, are very Do/Feel in orientation, I think.

Just a few ideas to cast into the fray...!

-- 
Shava Nerad Averett				shava_averett@unc.edu
/*  all materials (c)1992, Shava Nerad Averett, and have nothing significant
    to do with the University of North Carolina, a mostly owned subsidiary 
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