Zachary March completed a learning preferences survey for his ITEC 299 class that showed he had a moderate preference for being reflective, verbal, sensing, and sequential. Throughout the class, his preferences did not change significantly. He found that utilizing his strengths and improving his weaker areas helped him learn new topics. Zachary identified his learning pathway as a "Learning Warrior" and used new mobile technologies like language learning apps and podcasts to seek deeper knowledge for personal and professional growth. He found blogs, iPods, and MP3s particularly useful due to their portability and ability to support his verbal and sequential learning preferences through note-taking, organization, and repetition.

1. Synthesis Quest Project #1
Zachary March

2. Learning Preferences
• My scores for the learning preferences survey at the beginning of the
course were very in between and not too far in certain directions. I scored
a 7 for reflective, 5 for verbal and 3 for sensing and sequential. By the end
of the class my style of preferences hadn’t really changed and they still
had little separation. I still preferred to be reflective and do work
delligently on my own (as I am doing this quest) rather than working in
groups. And I continued to study verbally seeking out facts in words and
listening to screencasts before tests rather than paying attention to
illustration. I learned by the end of class that choosing the correct
pathways towards learning and learning to improve on your weaker
preferences is very important for understanding new topics. I’ve pretty
much known this before taking this class but ITEC 299 helped me utilize
these characteristics while studying. I guess it does help to know your
preferences as far as having them explained to you to better understand
yourself. But really I’ve known this about myself since I’ve been actively
studying pretty much since high school so it’s kind of like someone telling
you what you already know, nothing really changed.
Zachary March

3. Learning Pathway
• In my case as far as a pathway for learning for this class I
chose I wanted to be a Learning Warrior. I wanted to seek
deeper into technologies for personal growth and better
knowledge. I believed I fulfilled this pathway by obtaining
new knowledge that not only helped me in this class, and
other classes but also my job (social media public
relations). I may have dipped into the Learning Sage
pathway a bit because I did learn about a lot of new devices
I didn’t know existed. Devices that could help me learn by
reviewing and sharing content with others such as
blogs, ipods, ipads, and Mp3’s. There are many tools out
there that I didn’t fully understand until this class. But all in
all, since I mainly used the mobile material I learned in this
class to better myself I believe I stayed a warrior.
Zachary March

4. Activities for my Learning Pathway
• Activities for using mobile devices to learn such as lessons on
learning a new language really helped expand my knowledge
mobile technologies. The learning of new languages activities such
as Clip2Go and One Minute Manderin showed me
iPods, iTunes, and Podcasts in a different light. I use to only use
these devices for music and now I know they can be a fast and easy
guide to learning a new language. To get a deeper understanding
after exploring these different tools it was time to try them out.
Signing up and downloading the files was easy, but what helped the
most was actually hearing someone speak the language so that I
was interactively engaged. The activity that I believe worked best
for learning with others was the Voxopop podcast network. I found
this network the easiest to manage and navigate through. I can use
this as a collaborative learning tool for group work and study
sessions.
Zachary March

5. Top 3 Mobile Technologies
Blogs:
I love writing blogs. I have a blog page on blogspot and I try to write as much as possible. I never
considered myself a good writer until I started writing on blogspot freely and learned that I have a very
strong, opinionated voice and my personality really jumps off the page. And being a reflective learner I
now understand why I am constintely proofreading my work. It takes me a very long time to write one
blog because I spend 5 minutes on one sentence. But now I understand why and i know why i am always
so proud of the finished product.
iPods:
Developingn new techniques with my iPod really helped me to understand things more clearly. Being a
sequential learner I was able to write notes, or organize my day using apps on the iPod. This helped
tremendously because planning is key and constantly outlining information to prepare myself mentally
helped me learn better. Although the only downside to the iPod is it’s mostly visual and I could
sometimes feel a little irritated looking at the screen. I caught myself a few times needing to do
something and knowing that my iPod was capable of performing the task but just didn’t want to take it
out and look at it.
Mp3:
Mp3’s are great for me and my memorization. They are easy to download and listen to time and time
again to expand my learning. Being a sensing learner I can do this well with an Mp3 player and go over
similar topics to help memorize. It always helps to be a verbal learner because I can understand words
much better than pictures. I find myself constintely listening to 1 minute of a lesson and rewinding and
playing it over. A couple times of repeating this and the topic will never go forgotten.
Zachary March

6. Synthesized Experience
• The mobile technology that interested me the most was the
iPad/tablet. These are machines that bridge everything between
cell phones and laptops. It has the capability to be portable making
it extremely mobile and easy to use. I personally own two iPads
and have learned a lot about them by going through the quest. The
mobile technology that surprised me the most was also the
iPad/tablet. I actually learned a lot about these machines as I went
through the quest.
• I would say this technology worked best for me because being I was
able to look up relevant information quickly. Being able to read
others articles related to mine was effective because being a
sensing learner I was able to make connection easily and find the
true meaning of things. Checking different news sources and
monitoring other peoples suggestions helped me gain more
knowledge about many topics.
Zachary March

7. What Now?
• I feel the iPod worked best for my learning preferrences. I think
that this was best for me because of it’s ease, size, simplicity and
convience. iPods can fit anywhere and are so versatile. It can benifit
any style of learning no matter what preference you are. You can
watch, listen, organize, plan, share, download, etc, etc.. That’s why
it can cater to anyone. Depending on how knowledgable you are
about the product, (which now I can say I’m definitely more familiar
on utilizing it’s assets) the more you can get out of it and the more
it will help you learn.
I will continue to use my iPod to do some of the simplest to most
complex things i do in everyday life. With so many applications
available at your fingertips such as notepad, or flash cards you’ll be
able to study anywhere. After this class I will probably not avoid
using any of these devices to help me study or just my day to day.
It’s great because everyday these devices are becoming more and
more advanced.
Zachary March