Choose your Modality

We all learn and remember things in different ways. I can't remember why I walked into the next room. I have often looked for my car keys while they are in my hand. So to be clear, I' am not claiming to be a god on this subject.... but... I have a strangely bizarre memory. For anything that is in my deep knowledge I can remember exactly where I was and the circumstances where it happened. In talking to a bestie he said he couldn't remember my invite for him to fly from NYC to CR in the summer of 2014 with me picking up the expenses (he was a poor graduate student). He was like, really? "Yes," I replied, "I was in the basement of my house when I made the offer. It was the day after my Dad's funeral."

The point? Since we learn in different ways it's important to offer information in ways that work for anyone you are trying to teach. 

As a guy with 10K students from the UAE and several thousand in the US, the stories my former students tell me that they remember from my classes is my analogies, metaphors, my ways of breaking complex topics down to bite sized pieces. I'd add that I have a willingness to say "I have no frickin' clue" when hit with something I don't know. (My colleagues like to BS that they are experts on EVERYTHING.)

The main lesson I learned during Covid is that the choose your modality concept is real. You learn best by reading? Go for it! I gave students transcripts of my lectures. You are a visual learner? You have my videos. for those into audio they'd play it again before they slept. Nothing helps your memory better than studying before you sleep. 

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For the next two weeks I will be making making my daily vlogs available on this blog  Is this a great idea? I have no clue. I can write almost as fast as I can type so let's see...