Reflective essay on education and training The WritePass Journal

Reflective essay on education and training Introduction Reflective essay on education and training IntroductionReferenceRelated Introduction Through this course I have learnt reflect on my strengths and weaknesses in relation to education and training. I now recognize that there are different learning styles which are Activist, Reflector, Theorist and Pragmatist (Honey and Mumford, 1982). Online questionnaires have shown that I am between an activist and a pragmatist. I now understand why I focus on practical matters and to be less interested in exploring hypotheticals or more abstract and theoretical areas. I need to understand what a theory is useful for, and what it can be applied to in the real-world. I require information to be explained so I can relate it to previous experiences. I tend to teach students by my preferred method of learning although on reflection this is not suitable for all (Anonymous ) . I find it difficult to concentrate on lengthy written tasks or reading technical books. I have found reading off screen hard work and have   a tendency to flick between screens therefore I have had to print out the screens and read them on paper and instruction videos I have had to watch several times. I also am learning to become more disciplined when using the computer as I often have multiple windows open thus becoming easily distracted. Time management is something that I now aware is not my strongest point in that I tend to leave projects until the last minute. I have therefore mapped out a study plan, to allow me to make constructive use of my time. (Landsberger) The discipline of critiquing is a challenge for me as I tend, with education journals with training articles that have multiple choice questions, to try and answer the questions first without reading the article or at least speed read it. I now understand how important when looking at journal articles and web pages how relevant the information is and more importantly its source being it a properly referenced article or a sponsored piece (Pears, Shields and Lancaster, 2007). Previously I had never considered this to be particularly important. This is an area I need to improve, as I now realise much of studying is about critiquing and assessing information In previously I have used end note in Windows Word as the reference tool, as I was unaware of other styles of referencing especially when used for academic papers. I now have learnt how to use Refworks as a tool for referencing which I have also applied to another project. Using search engines in the past have been very much a hit and miss affair where I used phrases rather than keywords. Having been shown how to use Google scholar and specifically Boolean operators, my search strategy is now more efficient and has led to a larger number of relevant hits. (Anonymous ) Reference Honey, P. Mumford, A. (1982) Manual of Learning Styles. P. Honey. Anonymous Learning Styles Available at: ndt-ed.org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Learning_Styles.htm (Accessed: 4/28/2011) Landsberger, J. F. Time management. Available at: studygs.net/timman.htm (Accessed: 4/24/2011) Pears, R., Shields, G.    Lancaster, S. (2007) Cite them right. Newcastle upon Tyne: Pear Tree Books. Anonymous boolean operators Google Search Available at: google.co.uk/#q=boolean+operatorshl=enprmd=ivnsfdei=ezK0TZTlHISg8QOs3uyVDAstart=10sa=Nfp=d1007c4880f2cdbd (Accessed: 4/24/2011)