left-brain, right brain
Thoughts into words Sal McKeown suggests ways to get from reading to writing via good note-making
M language
rules and grammar mathematical formulae numbers sequences linearity analysis
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any people come to e-learning later in life. Some find it very straightforward but a significant number who have not had success at school are not confident or skilled learners. Fortunately, many e-learning courses are designed with their
needs in mind and feature short bite-sized chunks of learning and a range of media to engage their interest. Nevertheless, I have noticed that advice on planning longer assignments is wide of the mark and leaves learners frustrated and worried that they will fail. Often such advice does not take account of less conventional learning styles and does not work for the growing number of adult learners with specific learning difficulties.
One piece of research which fascinates me and has influenced my thinking
on study skills for adult learners is the work of Roger Sperry. In 1981 he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his experiments on left brain and right brain hemisphere brain functions. He discovered that most of us use both sides of our brain but have a bias to one side or the other. Traditional academia is very left brained with an emphasis on words, details and categorising. It is a language based approach to information, whereas the
LEFT BRAIN emphasises: RIGHT BRAIN emphasises:
images awareness of shape appreciation of patterns ability to work in 3 dimensions rhythm and musical appreciation seeing the whole picture
right side of the brain specialises in intuition and awareness of patterns. We are beginning to find that a high number of multimedia programmers are right brained. Many people with specific learning difficulties share this ability to work in non- linear ways and see links which are not apparent to left brained individuals. Being left or right brained is neither an advantage nor a drawback, but it has implications for the way people learn. Now look at the Open University website for students studying with dyslexia
(opposite). It offers advice on planning and writing an assignment. This is a detailed guide but it is also linear and a very left brained approach which does not work well for right brained individuals. It is most suited to handwritten exams where the candidate jots down an outline plan and then write up a fair copy in neat handwriting with minimal crossings out and no spelling mistakes. People with specific learning difficulties work – as do many professional writers – in a much more holistic way and advice such as this does not play to their strengths. They might start by gathering preliminary information, writing part of the assignment, editing and deleting large chunks, researching further and finding a whole tranche of fresh information to incorporate. This process has been compared to developing a photograph as an assignment evolves and emerges. It may appear chaotic to neat thinkers but it is a remarkably effective and thorough way of working.
Reading and research Reading and research are the bedrock of a student’s work. All students will have to take notes in one form or another and this is where problems begin. It is estimated that 90 per cent of written notes taken by learners are superfluous. Too often they are left with an incoherent mass of information which has no structure and is just a reworked version of all the reading they have done. Students sometimes say that they read and read, but don’t seem to be able to take anything in. One strategy is to read a paragraph and to write or record a
e.learning age june 2015
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