34 Learning Reflections
How I learn
Learning can look different for me in many ways. One of the main ways that I learn best is through visual perception. I can listen to someone talk about something but it is very hard for me to learn that topic unless I see it visually. For example, in pre-dental club last year we were drilling fake teeth to prep them for crowns. We at first sat through a lecture of someone talking about how to do the process but I was not able to learn about how to actually do it until they demoed it in front of us. I then memorized the steps that they took to do that entire process and then I was able to do it myself. If that information does not stick with me right away, then sometimes I will have to go through it again myself or have someone else show me how to do it and by then I am almost certain on how to do it. I feel it is hard for me to read something or listen to something and know how to do it or memorize it right away which is why it is so important for me to have that visual aspect on how to do something.
Learning Reflection 1 – Active Listening
Active listening involves devoting your entire focus and attention on the person who is talking to you. It is important to use active listening to help us memorize the information that is being told to us and also so that the person talking to us feels heard and valued. It is easy for us as listeners to ignore the people who are trying to talk to us or not pay attention to them completely when they are trying to talk to us. I used the active listening method with my roommate Kendra when she was talking to me about what her plans were for the weekend. I think she was a little confused on why I seemed so interested in what she was talking about because usually when we talk I am on my phone or not making eye contact with her when she is talking. During active listening I made it a point to keep eye contact with her the entire time and nod my head and ask questions or comment when it was appropriate. I was able to memorize this information and what she was telling me which is also something that I usually do not do when I listen to others. I find it is a little bit uncomfortable keeping eye contact the entire time since it is usually something that I am not entirely used to. I feel like she felt heard and understood when I was listening to her which overall can really help relationships and friendships with others. Active listening is definitely something that is foreign to me and something that I really need to work on more. I feel like these experiences and now having this knowledge of how to do it will help guide and improve my usage of it in life.
Visual thinking strategies
Visual thinking strategies is a completely new concept for me and is not something I have heard about before coming to this class. I now know that visual thinking strategies like art can help us think critically and really reflect on what is happening in the world around us. During the visit to MERF visual thinking strategies really helped me to understand what the building was meant for and how it is used. One major detail that I noticed with the building was the way that it was set up. On the outside there are different shades of green surrounding the building and many windows and skywalks. Inside, the building is composed of study areas, laboratories, classrooms, lecture halls, a coffee shop and even more. What stuck out to me the most in this building were the study spaces and how bright and colorful some of them were. Many of the study spaces were situated right by large windows so students can look outside and feel sunlight while they study during the day. Some of the other study spaces had windows that were painted with various themes (my favorite being the barn) which almost makes it seem fun to go inside these places and study which can be a very stressful thing to do at times. Many students can experience burn out after studying and doing school work for extended periods of time, but in MERF, the building is designed in such an amazing way that studying can seem fun and interesting. Another feature of the building was a courtyard with more tables to study at and a large grassy area where multiple people were playing cornhole which can also ease the stress of studying.
For the painting, visual thinking strategies really helped me to think critically to reflect on what was happening in the photo. Initially I observed an African-American woman sitting poised on top of a table surrounded by three white men and two more African-American women peeking at them behind a curtain. After looking more at the specific details in the photo I realized even more, like how the men look serious with their eyebrows furrowed and how there were scissors and a water bowl sitting on a table in the corner of the picture. I finally started to realize that the white men could be doctors trying to treat this woman and that her friends look worried and almost scared for her. Overall visual thinking strategies have helped me to understand how art tells us a story and how to understand art by observing and thinking critically.
What I know now about AI
Overall what I have learned about AI is that at times it can be super helpful, but it is not always accurate and needs a lot of fixing in order to be better. For example, in my biology class we have online homework where we can use a given AI tool to help us facilitate our learning. I usually always use it whenever I need help to answer the question if I am confused on what the question is asking. The AI is great at helping reword problems and give a baseline for how to start them but at times it will give me the incorrect answer and take points off of my homework. I know AI is not used to help us solve problems, but it is difficult when I talk through my answers with it and it tells me the answer that I got was correct when it actually is not. As far as using AI to help me generate ideas, it works great and really helps me to start projects or assignments that I do not know how to get a start on. One major fear of mine is that one day a teacher would accuse me of using AI when I have not before. With certain tools teachers can now detect the use of AI in many of their students assignments and sometimes that tool is not always right. These tools use AI to detect AI so it’s kind of sketchy and does not really make sense to me. I have seen multiple people have this happen to them on the internet and I hope that it would never happen to me.
Final Learning Reflection
At the beginning of this course, I knew a little bit about how music can play a role in healing but I did not learn about how important it was in the healing process until the music therapist came in and talked to us. Before her visit, I had no clue that music therapy was a real thing used inside hospitals and I thought it was so unique how they did it. Now I know that music can be crucial in the healing process for some patients. Even though music cannot take away the pain, it can cause a distraction for the patients so that their pain is much more manageable and not noticed as much.
Before this class I was honestly a little bit hesitant about using AI at times and did not know how to use it to the best of my ability. Now I know how to ask specific questions to AI that will help facilitate my learning best. I am much more confident in my AI use, especially how to cite it if I am allowed to use it in some of my other classes later on.
