The benefit of knowing your student's learning styles is that one can make sure to accommodate everyone's ability to retain knowledge.
You make a good point Ron - planning is essential if an instructor is to successfully incorporate diverse modalities. It is also important to give students opportunities to practice and apply what they have learned using applications that complement their learning style. For example a visual learner might want to produce diagrams or other graphic representations of material. The kinesthetic learner might want to give a demonstration.
The benefit is most noticeable when planning how to introduce new knowledge. In planning, a distinction needs to be made between those things the instructor would do (auditory, written words, visual aids, and kinesthetics) to introduce knowledge to students and those things he/she would do to help students practice, review, and apply knowledge. Through familiarization of the various learning styles, the instructor is able to adjust the "mix" of the modalities to ensure the best possible opportunity for success for all students. When the planning is completed using these variables, the instructor should become that much more effective in the classroom.
Welcome to Maxknowledge 103, Clifton! I see you were "burning the midnight oil" last evening. I agree, the challenge we often face as instructors is trying to alance our instruction between those who are moving at a faster pace and those who need more time/assistance to catch on. We all are have a learning style that we prefer and many of us can adapt to other styles depending on the situation. It is up to our instructors though to make every effort to accomodate diverse learning styles in their classrooms.
I feel that a instructor should identify with the
type of students that are enrolled in the corse.I
feel that the younger studests may be steel trying to learn a style that works for them,and the older students may have found theirs through experience.As a instructor it is my job to move at a pace that works for both.
I especially agree with your comment about the role of admissions in passing important info on to faculty. It is the admissions personnel who get to know the new student one on one and can if properly trained pick up on the cues that can really help a faculty member who must handle a large class.
When students enroll in college they have to live on the the styles they learned from previous years in school. My attempts to assist the students in retention, is during the first week of school, ask them questions about the learning style they feel best with. Many times I will speak to other instructors about student learning styles and I find out that a student has been forced to learn one style of learning. Most of our students need hands on experience. I have had issues in the past where the student does not have the skills to tell an instructor that they are having difficulty with the way the class is taught and they suffer in silence. I feel this is an important key that if we have good quality trained people in admissions to give others the heads up, then its a win win situation.
I agree. When students are not frustrated they much more easily feel relaxed in trhe classroom.
Being able to recieve maximum participation from your students by knowing the easiest way to help them retain information. This aids instructors with building a good rapport with thier students.
This is a good way of addressing all students .I totally agree with this style
Preferred learning styles begin quite early, but adults can often adapt to another style when they need to. K-12 teachers have to really make sure that they are addressing the preferred styles of their students.
BECAUSE THE STUDENTS ARE ALL ADULTS, THEY HAVE THEIR OWN LEARNING STYLES. SOME OF THE HAAVE THE ABILITY TO LEARN BY LISTENING AND OTHER LEARN BY DOING.
MOST OF THE STUDENTS HAVE THEIR OWN LEARNING STLYES,BUT I FIND THAT THEY ALL NEED GUIDANCE IN THEIR STUDYING TECHNIQUES.
Welcome to ED 103 Carol! What classes do you usually teach? Do you find that your students have various learning styles or is there a greater concentration of a particular style in your programs?
IT CAN HELP THE INSTRUCTOR TO GIVE MORE ATTENTION TO CERTAIN AREAS IE VISUAL OR CLASS PARTICIPATION. IT WILL HELP OTHER STUDENTS TO TAKE PART IN THE CLASS DISCUSSION.
Hi Susan- You are absolutely right. Most of the students including myself are kinesthetic learners. They can't wait till I get to the hands-on labs which are part of the pharmacy tech. program. Some students are volunteering in a real pharmacy where they can learn the actual hands-on application.
Hi Nancy - welcome to ED103! What is your own preferred learning style? Do you find that there are a greater number of students in your programs who seem to prefer a specific style? For example, we find that many of our electronics students are kinesthetic (hands-on)learners.
Having a diversity of students where I work as an instructor,I find it sometimes difficult to help challenged learners retain information in the course. Knowing their learning styles and working with that builds up their self confidence and avoids them from comparing themselves to other students who may be processing information quicker than them. As a pharmacy tech. instructor I try to incorporate all facets of learning styles in my lectures.
Thank you for the confirmation, Dr. Gary. I found that acknowledging learning styles was a question of survival for me. Once I started being assigned large classes of diverse individuals, I found myself working twice as hard to communicate with some groups if I didn't diversify my presentation from day one.
I was surprised how many students would remind me if I slacked off in using the white board as well. I never considered that as crucial of a visual transfer device until I taught English.
Hi George,
You comments about the learning styles of your students are appreciated by all of us in education. By being aware of the learning differences and preferences we can more effectively communicate both content and application concepts to our students.
Gary
