1. SPSU 1001 Hitchhiker’s Guide to SPSU Learning Styles Copyright © 2010 by Bob Brown

2. Hitchhiker’s Guide ? A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979) says Don’t Panic “in large, friendly letters on the cover.”

3. Introductions Dr. Jon A Preston 18 years’ experience in teaching IT/CS/Gaming Very interested in teaching and learning BS, MS and PhD in Computer Science (Georgia Tech and Georgia State)

4. Your Education So Far In elementary school, you memorized. Spelling Addition and multiplication tables The “shapes” of words for reading. Questions had right answers. In high school, you learned more complex material. Proofs and derivations in math Points of view in history and literature The fact of questions with unknown answers in the sciences and other subjects. Most questions still had right answers.

5. Critical Thinking In coming to college, you have chosen to work with your brain, not your back. (Good.) In college, and later at work, you will be asked to analyze, often on the basis of incomplete knowledge, and provide an educated opinion. “If it’s all opinion, why should I study?”

6. Your Grade Comes From… The answers you give. (There’s still a lot of material with “right answers” in college.) How well you support your opinions. The opinion part of an answer almost doesn’t count; what counts is showing how you reached your opinion. You support your opinion through: Authority: what do experts think about this. Evidence: what known facts support your opinion. You have to think critically, organize, and know the material!

7. College is Different All of you are smart Most of you were in the top 10% in high school. … what does that imply? Equivalent success means more work at the university level. You have more freedoms… … and more responsibilities.

8. People are Different We have different strengths and attributes. That applies to our brains as well as our bodies. If you know your strengths… You can play to your strengths And compensate when necessary

9. People Have Different Learning Styles Four “axes” Active – Reflective Sensing – Intuitive Visual – Verbal Sequential – Global Like height, weight, strength, hair color, the differences are of degree, Like some physical attributes ( such as strength) we can exercise our learning styles.

10. Active and Reflective Active Learners: Learn best by doing Want to try things out Enjoy working in groups Reflective Learners: Prefer to think about something first Want to think things through May prefer working alone

11. Sensing and Intuitive Sensing Learners: Like learning facts Solve problems by well-established methods Dislike surprises Intuitive Learners: Like discovering relationships Dislike repetition Enjoy new challenges

12. Visual and Verbal Visual Learners: Remember what they see Verbal Learners: Remember what they hear

13. Sequential and Global Sequential (Linear) learners: Learn in logical steps Want to follow all steps to a conclusion Global (Associative) learners: Learn in big jumps Absorb material almost randomly Suddenly put the pieces together and “get it”

14. Exercise Consider how you learn, then place yourself “somewhere along” each of the four axes. Example: Strongly reflective Somewhat verbal Neither visual nor verbal Mostly global

15. Exercise Four “axes” Active – Reflective Sensing – Intuitive Visual – Verbal Sequential – Global “Placement” words Strongly Mostly Somewhat Neither ___ nor ___.

16. More About The Course You will submit your homework using email. Due dates are always by 6am. This course is graded, and counts in your GPA. There is no textbook!

17. Questions