- Students understood how they learned and how to use that awareness to help them succeed.
- Teachers could get through to their most hard-to-reach learners;
- School administrators could provide their teachers with a proven method to help students enhance their motivation to excel academically and socially;
- Colleges and universities could retain a higher percentage of students by finding out the most effective ways to approach their studies;
- Supervisors could put together cohesive project teams with the confidence that the focus would be on actionable planning and results.
What is Let Me Learn?
Let Me Learn is an advanced learning system through which an individual finds out how to recognize and express who she or he is as a learner. The Let Me Learn system, used not only in the United States but internationally as well, also provides learners with strategies that help them maximize their learning potential.
Students who use the Let Me Learn system understand themselves better as learners. Consequently, they have more academic success because they take charge of their learning with greater confidence. For example, one fifth-grade student who had been struggling with his writing learned how to adjust his approach after participating in his school?s Let Me Learn program. From then on, the student wrote with greater confidence, knowing what was expected and how he could meet the objectives.
Getting Started: The Learning Connections Inventory
The Let Me Learn process begins with taking the Learning Connections Inventory (LCI) to determine how a person connects with his or her learning. This is followed by developing strategies specific to the individual?s effective use of these learning processes. Finally, the individual is taught how to use self-directed (or intentional) learning to achieve success with virtually any type of learning task or assessment.
When they understand what kind of learning comes most naturally to them, learners can approach any learning task with more conscious intention and self-awareness. They also can come to recognize learning situations in which a learning pattern that they are not naturally inclined to employ would be useful--and, with the help of a teacher, develop greater facility with this pattern.
SPECIAL NOTE: Unlike other measures of personality, multiple intelligences, or learning styles analyses, which leave the learner informed but not equipped to use the information, the LCI empowers the individual to take charge of his or her learning.
The Four Learning Patterns
The 28-question LCI is a research-based instrument that helps a person identify the extent to which he or she uses each of the following four key learning patterns:
? SEQUENTIAL ? CONFLUENT
? PRECISE ? TECHNICAL
As the Learning Connections Inventory name implies, the four patterns determine how we connect with and understand the challenges that confront us. However, it is common for individuals to naturally employ one or some of the patterns more than others.
Look below to see how the patterns combine.
SEQUENTIAL PATTERN
*The person who uses the ?sequential? pattern on a use-first basis is most comfortable following step-by-step directions and completing assignments from beginning to end without interruption.
(Example: Miguel drew a picture of a house exactly as he was told, no less and no more?and took time to doublecheck his work for neatness.)
PRECISE PATTERN
*The person who uses the ?precise? pattern on a first-use basis takes detailed notes, asks plenty of questions, and answers questions in a highly specific manner.
(Example: Amanda took extra time to draw a picture of a house in great
detail, including gutters and shingles on the roof.)
TECHNICAL PATTERN
*The person who uses the ?technical? pattern on a first-use basis seeks to problem-solve, doesn?t like to write out answers, and learns best from experience.
(Example: Jason enjoyed drawing his house a lot more than writing about it. His drawing included a picket fence he had helped his mom and dad paint.)
CONFLUENT PATTERN
*The person who uses the ?confluent? pattern on a first-use basis tends to avoid conventional approaches, seeks alternative ways to complete assignments, often starts before hearing all the directions, and improvises.
(Example: Ivonne started drawing her house before the teacher finished the instructions.
She added a secret entrance on the side of her rainbow-colored fantasy house.)
It?s important to note that even though individuals may favor one learning approach more than the others, in most cases the other patterns are employed to varying degrees.
The Interactive Learning Model
A model of learning which takes each of these four components into consideration, depicting them as interactive experiences, is the Interactive Learning Model (ILM).