Reflective Post:

Today in academic skills we covered several things; firstly we covered Kolb’s conscious competence learning matrix and the four steps involved, Starting off at unconscious incompetence and progressing through the four stages (unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and finally unconscious competence). The Kolb’s learning styles inventory test (www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html) came to the conclusion that I was a converger/ assimilator learner; meaning that I am a very thinking related learner and that I like to analyse and reflect on ideas and concepts. Kolb’s theories also stated that I used the right side of the brain more than my left side. I have heard of this theory before and don’t entirely agree with it, so I did some research on whether on not the brain had a dominate hemisphere and “There is no significant basis in neuroscience for the hypothesis that people have hemisphere-dominant cognitive styles”- www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/left-brain-right-brain-myth/. 

 Then we had to write a paragraph on a learning experience we had gone through were we had unknowingly progressed through Kolb’s four steps. I based my topic on my experiences with skateboarding and how when I learn a trick I subconsciously follow Kolb’s matrix all the way from not knowing that I’m unable to do the tick (Unconscious Incompetence) until I can do the trick without thinking about it (Unconscious Competence).

We then learnt how to create a structured and organised system in which to store our work so that it is easy to find, we were also given advice to back up all our files on a second computer/USB/Hard drive. This showed me that I could become a lot more organised in my learning style/methods and that there is always room for improvement.

Lastly we were given a time management sheet to complete over the next few days. This is designed to help us analyse what we do with our time and whether or we are effectively managing our time. I will be interested to see how my sheet turns out, and how I can improve my time management.

An interesting video on how the left and right sides of the brain operate: www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx53Zj7EKQE