My time in UCC lectures...Personal self realisation & learnings

My time in UCC lectures are ones of mixed feelings. The lectures I went too through the college year did and didn't stand to me. A person who has spend the last 5 years of his college education wielding,casting bronze and building,drilling and constructing art work and having the 'odd' lecture here and there...nothing prepared me for the social environment I was to witness. Being in UCC was a novelty for me at first. I got a kick out of finally being the last sibling in my family to go to UCC even if it was for 2 or 4 lectures this was a milestone for myself. The large lecture theatre's and masses of fellow hdip students was over whelming to me.

I found it hard to work and learn in this type of environment, note taking was impossible the lecture was hard to hear and seeing his PowerPoint's in a over lighted lecture theatre was no helpful. For the first few weeks myself and some of my fellow peers struggled and probably still to this date, to intake information and retain it.

The Boole Lecture Theatre...a great learning environment ?

This learning environment was a complete culture shock to me and it really tested me and my concentration levels. Trying to take notes and trying to hear the lecturer (even with his microphone on) I really was and still am out of my depths. I found it hard to engage with the lectures. I really learnt how lucky I am to be doing such a specialised hdip course in Art, Craft and Design Education. Having a close knit community and and the contained lecture room at Crawford Campus I now see how lucky and invaluable the learning environment I am thriving in comparison to the UCC lectures.

As a practical person and more of a 'get up and go person' and 'mentality practical', these lectures were always going to be a issue with me, I learnt a few weeks into the new semester that I was going to listen and try my best to take notes on what I personally enjoyed or of found interest. The results are quite limited I found the History of Education complex and hard to take notes with grammar and spelling I didn't understand. Taking notes was impossible for me.

At the end of the day I did learn alot about myself and I am a visual learner, having researched Gardener's Theory of Multiply Intelligences, its safe to say I have a Spatial and Bodily Kinesthetic intelligence. This theory will be discussed more in future blog posts.