With this Educational Planning Module, our 8 week course is half over.  Let me say a few words about midterm grades.  Generally I post midterm grades that you can read from your MyMC student portal, however, it is too early in the semester to post grades so I will tell you how you can figure the grade you are earning at midterm.  There have been 155 points available so far.  Take 90% of that and check your WebCT grade total to see if you currently have an "A" or to see how far you are away from an "A."  There are 206 points left to earn for a total of 360 point for the semester.  A couple of you have lagged behind during the last couple of weeks.  It's not too late to catch up.  All you have to do is put in the time and submit quality work. 

I'm looking forward to meeting with many of you this week and next week to discussion your educational and transfer plans.  A couple of you are considering transfer schools outside of Maryland.  If you have catalogs or curriculum information from those schools, please bring it with you for our planning session.  I have tons of information about all University of Maryland schools that I will share with those of you considering UM as either a first or second choice.  I have posted all grades, but have kept your educational plans.  I have made notes to you and reminders to me about things I want to do when we meet.  I will return the educational planning assignment to you when I see you. 

Read my message to you from the Assignment Drop where I confirmed our meeting time and date.  If you haven't emailed me with appointment times, please do so as soon as possible.  The deadline for the counselor meeting is spring break, but things get quite hectic as the break gets close.

Now on to next week's topic.  Learning styles has been a favorite topic of many previous students in this course.  There are all sorts of self assessments in this week's module that will help you learn more about who you are.  They help provide insight into your learning style and many other aspects of your personality.

Let me tell you how I figured out that I was an auditory learner - although I didn't know the name for it at the time.  I took a Shakespeare course when I was in college.  I have no idea what possessed me, but I've got to tell you that nothing made sense to me except the sonnets.  I was in trouble, so I went to the library and listened to the recordings and was them able to understand the plays.  Another hint that my preferred way of learning is auditory is that when I am so tired that I can no longer comprehend what I am reading, I can still learn, if it is from an audio file.  Now, think about what I am telling you.  I am a person that spends much of my day at the computer interacting with students, and teaching and taking classes online - not a whole lot of audio.  I took my entire last Master's degree online.  So, obviously I have had to develop my non-preferred styles of learning.  Keep this in mind as you identify your preferred way of learning.

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator is one of my favorite inventories.  It has been used for a variety of purposes including learning styles, personality fit with various work settings, marital counseling, team building, and study styles.  Feel free to share what you think your MBTI code is on the discussion board and I will share mine toward the end of the week.  I've added a voluntary discussion thread.

Have a great week.  Anita