Reflective Essay

I rather enjoyed this course for the simple fact that if you get anything from it you get back into the swing of things when it comes to schoolwork. I enjoyed the book, I think that the Army and its leadership course almost mirror a lot of the things found in this book. I particularly found the surveys in the book where you evaluated yourself beneficial. I had for the most part already known what kind of learner I am, but it was good to be able to read and realize how I can use and improve these skills toward this new thing called college. Even in my work I can use these lessons learned to make my job easier and more organized, I can even use the surveys on my people to see about what techniques and aspects of their learning style I can use to help them do their job better.

In the GEMS exercise I learned so much valuable information about myself. For instance, my overall ratings revealed that I am a self directed person, and this is a very important characteristic of a high achiever. I am likely to strive to take charge of my work and career rather than have others in the organization do it for me. I like to accomplish things on my own. I am generally a highly motivated person who does not need to be "motivated" or "pushed" by others. However, situations where I am micro managed are likely to cause me to become de-motivated. I set demanding standards of accomplishment for myself. Getting results from my own hard work is satisfying to me. If I am not being recognized by my boss as a result of the hard work and superior performance that I am doing, I am likely to find myself experiencing high job dissatisfaction.

Something I did not particularly enjoy was the discussion boards. I now understand that they are a fundamental part of online learning but it just pains me to have to post items, not so much because others read it, that does not bother me, but the fact that I have to respond to others is the part that kills me. Usually, discussion board posts are people’s ideas or opinions; I just have a hard time finding the desire to listen to others opinions on what we are learning. Sometimes people are just off the wall with their responses and for the most part I do not really care about what they have to say. I guess that all comes back to my learning style that proves that I like to learn alone. I find it such a burden it take the time to read someone’s thoughts and ideas, which are sometimes insightful,