It's time to practice some accelerated learning by actively reorganizing what you've learned into a presentable format.
Mind Mapping
You are going to design your own take-away for this course in the form of a mind map. In other words, you are going to decide, among all the things you've learned by taking this course, what will be the most valuable to you personally, and you'll organize it into a single visual. This will require some reflection, some review of your notes or a few of the course chapters and some creativity!
What's a mind map?
If you're new to mind mapping, here's a quick tutorial by design instructor Anne Ditmeyer:
What should I include in my mind map?
Here's a suggestion:
Start by writing your name in the center.
Branch out by writing the 7 learning styles from Part 1 around your name.
Create sub-branches for each learning style by brainstorming specific learning activities that you've engaged in successfully in the past or that you would like to try out.
You might even add sub-sub-branches by writing SMART goals for the activities that you think have the most potential for your learning plan.
To refine your ideas for a new, final draft of the mind map, focus on just three of the learning styles and three to five activities for each one. Omit the others. This added focus will ensure that your mind map becomes actionable rather than overwhelming.
This is just one idea! Alternatively, you might choose to explore:
Your Ikigai
Your ideal learning environment
Your SWOT
Opportunities to give back to your community
Any other aspect of the course
What's important is to choose something that you could benefit from reorganizing in a personally meaningful way.
The Four Ps:
I suggest that you split this activity into four steps, which I'll call The Four Ps.
Plan: This stage corresponds to your estimate of the time you want to allocate to perform the exercise.
Prepare: You need to make decisions on how to approach the exercise according to the time you have allowed yourself. The first decision will be what resources to use. You can choose between at least three types of support:
Paper: A landscape-oriented blank sheet and a pen will work well for your first sketch. Remember that you will not be assessed on your drawing skills.
Specialized computer program: You could also use a free program or the trial version of a program dedicated to mind maps.
Graphics editor: If you already know how to use a graphics editor (e.g., Illustrator), you can try this out.
Practice: Make a first attempt or several rough drafts to develop a sense of the space on the page. Perfectit: Using feedback from the first draft, clean up your design. But be careful not to get sucked into a perfectionist spiral. Hand in your work as soon as it’s legible and sufficiently complete to be used as a support material for feedback. If you wish to turn it into a work of art, do this after you have been assessed for the first time.
Check Your Work
The best way to assess the quality of your work is to submit it to an outside person who has not taken this Learn How to Learn course. What do they understand about your mind map? Would they be able to use it to formulate techniques to improve their learning ability? If so, well done! You have succeeded in synthesizing and highlighting the knowledge you have acquired!
Check that your mind map meets the following criteria:
Format: The mind map is legible (ideally without zooming, but not mandatory).
Content: The mind map presents a main subject in the center, at least three branches with sub-branches and (optionally) some color or images.
