What kind of a learner are you?

We all learn best in different ways. For many people, something doesn’t ‘stick’ until they’ve actually done it several times and seen it in action for themselves. Some people only have to read or hear something once and they have it committed to memory. Others like to make notes – putting something into their own words to embed an idea in their head or cement their understanding of a process.

At RPC, our trainers are skilled in tailoring their instruction to suit the different learning styles of individual delegates on our classroom and online courses, but we recognise that learning doesn’t stop when you leave the classroom or sign off from your online course, and that when you start to put your learning into action you may find areas where you need more help or topics that you would like to go over again.

Our suite of Learning Support Services have been devised to meet the needs of all different learning styles and situations. However you like to learn, we can help you to develop your Oracle Primavera P6 knowledge and competence in a way that works for you.

Take this quick quiz to help you to identify what kind of learner you are. You might be surprised by the results!

When you need to memorise some information, like a new PIN number, do you:
A Repeat the numbers out loud 
B Practise over and over on a number keypad
C Write the numbers down or visualise them in your head

When you’re studying, do you:
A Talk through what you’ve learned with your teacher or a friend or colleague
B Walk around the house with your notes, looking at them as you go
C Study quietly, looking through the course material and your notes on your own

When you need to put together some flat-pack furniture, do you:
A Ask someone to read the instructions to you, step by step, as you work
B Just start, and figure it out as you go
C Read all the instructions yourself before you start

When you’re problem-solving something in a group, do you prefer to:
A Brainstorm ideas as a group
B Build a model or act out a scenario 
C Draw mind maps or a plan of what you need to achieve

At school, did you prefer work that was:
A Lectures given by the teacher
B Hands-on experiments
C Reading assignments 

Count up your As, Bs and Cs and see which learning category your style fits with best. Some experts call these ‘See’, ‘Hear’, ‘Do’, or ‘Visual’, ‘Auditory’ and ‘Kinesthetic’ learning styles. We’ll describe them as being a Reflective learner, a Theoretical learner or an Active learner. Which one are you?  

Mostly As:  You’re a Theoretical learner 

This means that you learn best by listening, by asking lots of questions – and by talking to yourself or repeating facts or numbers out loud when you need to commit something to memory. You can understand the theory of what you are learning, but then you like to test it out and come back to ask questions before you’re really sure that you understand how to apply that knowledge. When you’re in a classroom situation, you’re probably the one with your hand up. Perhaps you’ve noticed this and have to make a conscious effort not to monopolise the course instructor’s time so that other people can ask questions, too? 

RPC Tutor would be a good fit for your learning style. Once you’ve taken an online or classroom-based Primavera P6 course or have some experience of using the tool in your job, you probably have a list of questions about features that interest you and you want to know more about, or queries where you want to clarify how best to do something or where to find a specific action or tool in the software.

With RPC Tutor you will benefit from a 1-hour, individual online tutor session with one of RPC’s Primavera P6 experts, delivered within 48 hours of your booking. Hosted via Microsoft Teams, you’ll have an hour of one-to-one time that you can use to provide dedicated, just-in-time learning support focused on your own specific requirements. Ask all the questions you want – your tutor is there just for you.

Mostly Bs: You’re an Active learner

Kinesthetic, or Active learners learn best from real, hands-on experience. If you wanted to understand bridge design and strength, you’d probably build a model. You might have found it hard to learn a language at school, but picked it up in no time when you were actually in the country on holiday. When you’re in a course, you’re most probably itching to get back to your desk to put what you’ve learned into action – and only then do you realise what you need to go back over.

RPC Mentor offers you 8 hours of online, professional advice with a single, dedicated Primavera P6 expert. You can choose to use your time in one block of 8 hours, or multiple shorter sessions, giving you the flexibility to work through areas of your learning together, and allowing you to build a relationship with your Mentor that will help you to get the most out of your sessions. Your Mentor will work with you to identify a tailored learning progression that can use real-life case studies or even your own projects to support your professional development and make your learning powerfully relevant to your own particular work situation.

With RPC Mentor, you’ll have the support of personalised instruction, shaped to your own needs. It’s like spending time shadowing a colleague, but better, as that colleague is there just to support your own learning and development. This tailored and intensive approach enables you to get the most out of your time and makes a real impact on your skills acquisition and knowledge progression.

Mostly Cs: You’re a Reflective learner

You’re a note-taker, a watcher and a thinker. Your most effective learning comes when you can read something or make some notes and then have the opportunity to revisit that material again later. Maybe you like to go away from a training course and use what you’ve learned back at work, and then go back over the learning again to reinforce any areas where you’re lacking in some confidence and to fill in gaps you’ve identified in what you’ve learned. When you were at school, you probably revised for exams with revision cards, lots of different coloured pens, notes, highlighting and flashcards – going over things twice, or even more, until you were sure you really understood.

When you’ve attended a training course and feel like you want to go over parts or all of it again, it can be hard to admit. Perhaps people will think you weren’t paying enough attention the first time, or that they shouldn’t need to pay twice just because you didn’t take it all in. RPC Refresh understands that sometimes your skills will have got rusty or maybe you’ve moved into a different job role, where you are using aspects of the Primavera P6 product that you haven’t used much before. Or maybe you have put your learning into action back at work and realise that there are areas where you need a bit more help.

For Reflective learners, it can be really beneficial to go back over a course again, and with RPC Refresh you have the opportunity to do just that, but at less than half the original cost if your original training course was less than 5 years ago. If you know that this is your most effective learning style you can book a Refresh at the same time as your original course booking for even less – just £295 – and then redeem that against any RPC Primavera training within 12 months if you find that you don’t need it for the original course after all. Taking a refresher course with RPC Refresh gives you the opportunity to build on your existing skills and really boost your learning and competence by coming back to the subject knowing what you need to work on.

At RPC, we pride ourselves in our on-going commitment to supporting customers to meet their needs, by providing solutions that are tailored to their requirements. Whatever your learning style or professional development goals, RPC’s suite of Learning Support Services will have a solution that is right for you. Don’t sit at your desk and struggle. Find out how RPC can help.