Advice from the UTS Emperor

Hi Blogs,

Everybody wants advice, especially when you're too busy to come up with your own. I found some study pointers from the "Chief Minister" of the UTS faculty for TCM, Peter Meier. One day I will get an interview with this fella. Peter by the way is really a large bloke whose fingers hardly fit on the wrists of the people he's checking the pulse of! He's an extremely down to earth person, no nonsense type, who I'm sure cares about every single person on the course-although he would never let on!

So here you have a few years of teaching advice distilled into 8 points.

Thanks for letting me republish it here (slightly edited). From this forum: http://forums.acupuncture.net.au/viewtopic.php?p=7189&highlight=#7189

"Most people can learn acupuncture and remember the points if they put the effort in. I suspect, like many students...you are likely not approaching your studies in a systematic manner. To succeed in any field of study you must approach your studies in a planned and organised way.

1) identify what you are trying to learn

2) why you are learning it (if you are cramming for a test you will forget two minutes after you walk out of the exam)

3) identify the best approach to learn the material according to your style eg, colours, visual, audio, mind maps etc

4) plan appropriate study times where you can consistently go over the material eg 3 x20 minutes per week may work better than 1 hr per week depending on your learning styles and schedule

5) repetition is the mother of learning - this is a cliche for a reason

6) ground your theory in practice - don't read about or memorise point locations - find them on real people (that's why you have friends and relatives)

7) have realistic expectations - acupuncture points were not mapped in a week and you won't learn them that quickly either

8) draw up a study timetable - very important but not done by most- and then stick to it

Remember that no amount of learning will replace a couple of years of clinical practice. also, and probably should have mentioned this first - ask yourself why you are bothering in the first place (save yourself and your lecturers some grief) -if its only a passing interest then its not likely that your motivation will be particularly high or last very long. You need to develop a passion for your studies and future profession (you will be sticking needles into people for the next 40 years or however old you are + your working life) that will motivate your actions. apart from that the only other thing is perseverance let me leave you with another cliche that is very relevant to students and graduates who are about to start their clinics people who fail to plan, plan to fail good luck"