A few years ago I decided I wanted to do an MBA - part time, whilst working. It is a really quite hard and very academically rigourous course and it consists of many diifferent units. Quite early on I had to do an intensive 3 days on Economics. I had never done Economics before, haven't even got Maths 'O'Level. The tutor was a young italian professor who spoke very fast with an incredibly strong accent. I would have struggled with that at the best of times but he was teaching stuff that was incredibly difficult (I found out later he covered topics in three days that undergratuate Economics students learn in the whole of their first year!) On Day 2 half way through a session I went to the toilet and cried. I felt completely overwhelmed, out of my depth, incompetent and humiliated and didn't have a clue how I would get through the next couple of days or ever pass an exam on the subject! I mean - I do like a challenge but this was crazy...
One of the best learning experiences I can remember was about 12 years ago or so - I was sent by my work on an intensitve train-the-trainer course. I learnt about Belbin's team roles, which gave me amazing insights into myself, it was truly a revelation. We were also taught about learning styles - and were then asked to prepare a presentation incorporating everything we had learnt so I had to put things into practice straight away, and about a topic I really cared about a lot. The whole style of the course was incredibly dynamic, and there were lots and lots of things to do and find out. It was one of the best training course I've ever been on, the trainer was amazing and when I spoke with him afterwards I realised that he had the same background and characteristics as me: he had trained as an actor, he was an activist type of learner and his dominant Belbin team role was exactly the same as mine. It really demonstrated to me (very practically!!) how personal a learning style is - and I felt I had really learnt about my own in those two days.
Gabrielle
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