Different learning styles?
I realize in every class there are a lot of different learning styles. Is it appropriate to survey the class to see who is what learning style? My thought is, if I find I have a lot more visual learners than hands-on learners I will cater the class more to visual. Also, do you think most students know what kind of learner they are?
Hi Kristina-
I work in a creative technical school with students that come from a variety of educational backgrounds. I've noticed that my students who are college-educated have a good idea of how they learn. For many of my students, our school is their first experience in a post-high school setting. These students are less likely to understand how they learn and need a bit more guidance to help find the best way to understand our content. When a new class starts, I try to take account of the personality of the class as a whole and adjust my lesson plans accordingly. Once I've gotten to know the individual students better, I can help them on a one to one basis as needed.
Laura Talon
Hi Kerry,
I agree with your last response in the forum. Our students may not have a certain learning preference but need to be able to process information and content through this medium as well. For example a written word preference may not be the highest level of learning preference for a person but they must read manuals for information about certain kinds of parts and repairs. They need skill in reading and processing even though they may not prefer to take in information this way.
Gary
I concur completely with Dr. Meyers.
Developing your classes with all the learning styles in mind allows each student to tap into their particular areas of strength.
I personally believe that it also challenges the non-dominant styles in each student and may, in fact, promote skill development in those weaker areas.
Hi Deb,
I like to present my course content in a variety of different modes just as you are doing. This way I make sure I am hitting on all of my students learning preferences at different times in the course. In addition, my students like the variety since it keeps the course from becoming boring to them.
Gary
A few of my student sunderstand how they learn best, but the majority seem to discover this as we progress. As an instructor you can "track" the effect of different styles of presentation by how well different students respond. With our program its fairly easy to give them the info in several formats so that almost all of the class is able to grasp the lesson.
Hi Janet,
Certain personality types are drawn to certain career areas so by being in a design field you will have more visual learners than the three other areas. But we are seeing more visual learners due to the use of technology in aspects of our lives today. The most common learning preferences found in career colleges are visual and tactile which dictates the kinds of instructional deliveries that are are most commonly used.
Gary
I have read recently that people in general nowadays have become more and more visual learners. That certainly seems true in my school although we are a design school so that may skew my observations. Have you seen evidence of this?
Hi Kristina,
My experience is that most learners don't know what their learning style is. They know what they prefer in terms of how to learn but don't know it as a style. This is where the instructor needs to find out what their style (preference) is. I plan my instruction to use all four areas of learning styles since the students when they are working will have to use a variety of methods to gain new information. By knowing the learning styles of my students I know that my visual learners will grasp the information easily when I am using a visual delivery which means I can concentrate on helping the tactile or auditory learners translate the information into their preferred format. In career colleges the majority of students are tactile learners which makes application of knowledge easier. The challenge is to help them see how using visual and auditory pathways also help them with their learning.
Gary
