Definition
Ricki Linksman is an educator and author known in aviation instruction circles as the developer of the Superlinks learning style model, which combines the four perceptual modalities (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic) with the two brain-hemisphere preferences (left-brain analytical, right-brain holistic) to produce eight blended learning styles. Her work is referenced in the Aviation Instructor's Handbook as one framework instructors can use to recognize how different students take in and process information.
Plain English
Ricki Linksman is the educator who created the Superlinks idea, which says people learn best through a mix of how they sense information (seeing, hearing, touching, doing) and how their brain prefers to think about it (step-by-step or big-picture). The FAA mentions her work as a way for flight instructors to understand student differences.
Context Anchor
Seen in the Aviation Instructor’s Handbook chapter on learning styles, where flight instructors are learning how students may receive and process information differently.
Why Pilots Care
Flight instructors care because recognizing a student's learning style — as described in Linksman's framework — helps them adjust how they brief, demonstrate, and debrief, which speeds up learning and reduces frustration in training.
Intuition Check
Do not read Ricki Linksman as an aircraft part, procedure, or FAA acronym. It is a person’s name used as a source for a learning-style concept.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor referenced Ricki Linksman's Superlinks model when explaining why some students grasp procedures faster through hands-on practice than through classroom briefings.
Example Sentence 2
Following the handbook, the CFI applied Ricki Linksman’s Superlinks ideas to adjust the lesson for a kinesthetic learner.