Week 1 - Preferred Learning Techniques - Nico Vernetti

Approximately this time last year, (September 2013) starting the foundation year in art and design, I had to undergo a sort of 'diagnostic' test which would tell me what my ideal learning style was. Well I got 'visual learner' and it told me that I fit well into situations involving long periods of reading, and I remember things better when I see them written down.
Whilst I agree with remembering things better when I see them written in text, there is a point where it becomes tedious and I get switched off when there is too much information, or when I don't understand a certain part very well, and the entirety of the remaining lecture/tutorial/article consists of referring back to the previous point which I never understood in the first place.
Having to depend/work with other people is something that I'm usually apprehensive about, mainly because it seems human nature to need to elect a 'group leader' of sort (wether it be automatic, or a more subtle meutral agreement) where a stronger personality, or let's say someone who has more attractive 'leadership' qualities e.g the oldest, the most popular of the group, the most confident etc. The more vulnerable members/minorities tend to find themselves struggling to find a voice, which can be fustrating for the group and halt progress/learning in my opinion, I myself always make a conscious effort to try and make sure everyone has an equal footing.
Nevertheless I would still consider my learning style to be versatile, to be honest it depends mostly on whether I'm interested enough in the subject matter, or whether the information we are learning is really relevant to our project/course. I would say that abstract styles of learning that have vague, untangeable goals are somewhat stifling to a 'visual learner', as if I can't see where I'm supposed to be heading, how am I supposed to reach my goal? - which in this case the question being how can I learn the most efficiently?

Nico Vernetti