Page 106 - Keys To Community College Success

For some students, technology tools such as search engines and GoogleDocs
come easily, but others may struggle. Knowing your learning preferences can help
you fit technology tools to your assignment and use online resources effectively. Are
you strong in the logical-mathematical intelligence or Thinker dimension? Working
with an online tutorial may be a good choice. Are you an interpersonal learner? Find
a tech savvy classmate to help you get the hang of it. An Adventurer may try out the
features of a text or course website randomly, according to what looks interesting,
whereas an Organizer may click through features in their listed order.
If you’re having trouble with a particular type of technology, find a teaching assis-
tant, instructor, or skilled classmate to help you understand how to use it. Finally,
remember that technology cannot make you learn—it can simply make information
accessible to you. To achieve the reward of learning, evaluate different technologies
carefully and use them in ways that are most productive for you.

Workplace Choices
Knowing how you learn and interact with others will help you work more effectively
and take more targeted and productive career planning risks. How can an employee or
job candidate benefit from self-awareness?

Better performance and teamwork. When you understand your strengths, you
can find ways to use them on the job more readily, as well as determine how to com-
pensate for tasks that take you out of your areas of strength. In addition, you will be
better able to work with others. For example, a team leader might offer an intraper-
INTERNSHIP
A temporary work program sonal team member the chance to take material home to think about before attending
a meeting; an Adventurer might find ways to spearhead new projects, while delegating
that allows you to gain
the detailed research to a Thinker on the team.
supervised, practical
experience in a job and Better career planning. Exploring ways to use your strengths in school will help
career area.
you make better choices about what internships, jobs, or careers will suit you. For most
college students, majors and internships are more immediate steps on the road to a
career. Internships can be extremely rewarding risks, giving you a chance to “try out”
your major in a workplace setting. You might even discover you don’t have an interest
in a career in that area and need to switch majors.

Key 3.7 links majors and internships to the eight intelligences. This list is by no
means complete; rather, it represents only a fraction of the available opportunities.
Use what you see here to inspire thought and spur investigation. If something from this

talk risk and reward . . .

Risk asking tough questions to be rewarded with new insights. Use the following ques-
tions to inspire discussion with classmates, either in person or online.
■ When you have trouble doing something, what is your first reaction—to risk trying
again, or to give up? Do you say “I need a different approach” or “I’m no good at
this”?
■ Do people perceive their own strengths accurately, or do you often see strengths in
others that they don’t believe they have?
CONSIDER THE CASE: Not knowing about Joyce Bishop’s learning disability, what would
you have assumed as an instructor of hers in college? Consider what an instructor
might assume about you that is not accurate. What risk can you take to clear up that
assumption?

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