Communication and collaboration for different learners and personalities
Terry Vasquez
Gen/200
August 30, 2010
Iessa-Mitchell-Sutton

Communication and Collaboration for Different Learners and Personalities
Working with a learning team will sometimes require working with different learning styles and personality types. Some of which may cause conflict among team members. It is important that the team recognize that there are differences in both personality and learning styles and find a way to communicate productively and work in partnership with one another. Doing so will aid in the collective purpose of the team and lead to ultimate success. With my Pathways to Learning experience I scored the highest in Musical followed by Verbal-Linguistic, and third, Intrapersonal.
The first Personality I will introduce is the Intrapersonal Personality. Intrapersonal communication is simply people communicating with themselves. This is the internal dialog they have with themselves. For instance Intrapersonal personalities are very in tune with their inner self. They make to-do lists or can have debates with themselves listing out the pros and cons of something before they take action. These personalities can be very strong in the group dynamic. Because they talk to themselves they also can effectively communicate and collaborate with others. This internal talk can also cause problems on the other side of the communication coin, listening skills. Because intrapersonal personalities spend a great deal of time talking internally, they may not be actively listening. Chances are they are already formulating a response while someone else is trying to communicate to them. Another problem with this personality is that when others don’t respond the way it was expected in their mind, they simply avoid communication in the future. One strategy for effective communication with this personality would be to be aware that the intrapersonal personality can be hard on themselves, or be very self conscientious and might need encouragement and compliments. Another strategy for collaborating with this personality type would be to assign projects that can be worked on individually. This way the member is still a valuable member of the team but does not get distracted or overwhelmed in a group setting.
Verbal-Linguistic personalities love words and language. They love the sounds and meanings of words, this can sometimes cause a problem for this personality because they can get so caught up in the meaning of a word and the way it is being used that the bigger picture is lost to them. They speak well and retain information. Effective ways of developing a productive relationship with this team member is to speak knowledgeably about the material being worked on by the group. Have some of the information in writing. Incorporating articles, stories, and books into the team projects can allow them to speak and explain their position on different topics.
Musical personalities think in sounds, rhythms, and patterns. Melody, structure, tone and pitch is very effective with this personality and they will learn best when they are listening to their favorite music. These learners will learn by humming or singing information they want to remember or move their bodies while they study. These are the people that are furiously working away at their desks with ear buds in their ears.