I agree. Each student could have a mix of learning style and may pick additional information up when presented a different way.
Hi Robert - You are definitely on the right road towards effective instruction! I am glad that the information on the learning styles has been helpful. Best wishes - Susan
Hi Robert- Thanks for your post to the forum. It can indeed be difficult to teach our students skills related to their careers when they clearly lack the general/soft skills which will ultimately determine how successful they will be.
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I have only been teaching in a class room setting for 2 yrs now and I must say most of it has been alot of fun.
Part of this journey is to get to know your students (ie) personalities,interests ect, What excites them and how to help them reach thier goals. In doing so I think that you find out quickly what ways a student learns and then mix it up. By this keep it challenging for them.
As far as styles I never really gave it a thought until now, Taking this course.
I understand better why or how to approuch some subject matter so that the retention level is higher.
I have worked alot of years in the HVAC/R trade and have had to understand and train alot of different people. What I have incountered is that most people are visual/hands on "Kinesthetic. During this time I've had to teach how to read and understand what they have read and to break the information into smaller bits for retention. I have had some that all I had to do was verbalize, I think being intune with the people that you are going to teach and able to reach there maturity level is key.
I try to mix it up with visual aids "drawing",
written,lecture,and hands on.
I do agree it would ease the process of creating a lesson plan if I new in the beginning the learning styles of the students. is there a game or activity that could be implemented to identify the students' learning styles?
Once you know the learning styles of your student, you can create a delivery style that will reach all the student within each class session. For example, if I have a class that consist of visual, auditory, and tactile learners; I would create turning point slides along with power point handouts. The turning point slides are interactive power point slides that allows for silent voting. I have reached out to the visual learner with the turning point slide presentation, auditory learner I reach through the discussion,and the tactile I reach two different ways, first with the power point handout and second through the interactive silent polling.
I agree - we do not test for learning styles and as an instructor I can not wait until the middle of end of a term to fine the student's particular learning style - I must address all styles to be effective for my students.
Hi Jose - Especially in a hands on discipline, getting students into hands-on labs from the beginning is great because it grabs their attention and gets them enagaged. Susan
Hi Rita- thanks for a very well written post to the forum. I agree, we do need to have the expectation that our students will play an active role in their learning. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I always have my students take a learning assessment test early in the term. That way, I can tailor my delivery methods to every student as best I can, usually by adjusting how to deliver course content to appeal to everyone's dominant learning style at some point. Sometimes it's easy--supplement a lecture with a handout, for example. Sometimes it's not so easy, and I find kinesthetic learners to be the most challenging to me as an instructor. My courses are not, by nature, "hands on" courses, so sometimes I have to get really creative! Knowing each student's learning style is so valuable because it also enables me to encourage a particular student to take charge of his or her own education, too, by creating activities for themselves independently to help him or herself learn something.
As an instructor it's chalenging when you have 20 students in a class. I think it's important to know how my studnets learn or are able to retain all the information. I have found at times that it take me a while through the program which students learned from my powerpoint presentation better or they are able to see it come to life through the hands on projects that are not given to the student till the second or third week in the module.
I found that my students enjoyed the courses more when day one i introduced them to a lab asssignment form the get go as apose to waiting to week two.
I felt this was break through and also a tention releif valve for the students. because they new from day one what the course was going to be about.
Having this information will allow an instructor to plan and deliver the most efficient kind of instruction tailor made to his class.
I agree,
Students learn best when they are taught in their personal style of learning.
Identifying students learning styles is a clue for instructors; I try to use different methodologies to teach my class and target as many different learning styles as possible; variety in teaching methodologies keep the students motivated and reinforce the new acquired knowledge.
The benefits of knowing the learning styles of the students is changing the way you present material for all students to be able to learn to their max ability
By giveing you the most efective means to impart knoledge to your students.
Knowing the different ways that students learn is helpful for the instructor's delivery of material. I try to incorporate different methods to allow for understanding at each level of learning style. Also, letting students know that some material may not allow for different methods of delivery can help to better prepare that student to retain.
A mix of styles in delivering course content is very beneficial to all students.
Hi Beth- Thanks for sharing a very interesting observation!! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
