Learning Styles

As an adult, returning to school can be challenging in many ways. Understanding how one processes and retains information can assist an individual in learning more effectively and being more productive with ones time. A focused and structured approach to learning using what one has learned in ones professional career as well as the insight gained from the Pathways to Learning and the Personality Spectrum assessments can set me on the path to a successful academic experience.

Although the learning process never stops in ones life, the ability to learn effectively can be impacted by many different factors. Factors such as ones mood, environment, location, and format of the information can set the tone for ones learning. Understanding the impact of these outside factors can greatly improve ones retention of the information and clarify the thought process.

In the professional setting, one may be learning through different avenues such as interactions with customers, coworkers and subordinates, formal trainings, and on-the-job experiences. Individuals may feel most comfortable in a particular setting. This speaks to that individuals' preferred learning style. As I reviewed the Learning Quadrants, I can identify with some attributes in the different quadrants. I believe that I am most aligned with Quadrant B. Organization and processes are essential for my thought process. This is reconfirmed with the Personality Spectrum assessment, where my personality type is identified as an "Organizer".

I believe that having the traits of an "Organizer" will be vital to my success of balancing my responsibilities of my job in the demanding hotel industry, spending time with my wife and children and continuing my education. In my position as a General Manager, there is a continuous flow of information that I need to process, act on and retain. With the addition of schooling, this will become more challenging and my time will become precious. Time management will be essential to meeting the obligations that will be set on me.

By logging my activities over the last week in a time log, I have found that there are certain times of the day when I am most productive. This can be attributed to several factors but I believe that the main factor is my external settings. I was able to process information and learn the most effectively in the early mornings or in the late evenings when I had quiet time and