Pushing the boundaries of Learning styles
As a professional educator for the past 12 years, I have absolutely noticed that students have their "preferred" learning styles. I must segue for a moment though, and say that I am VERY glad that the popular "personality tests" for the late 80's and early 90's are not used so much anymore. I always hated the idea that people actually thought you could clasify someone's personality as things like a color (I'm supposedly a Green by the way...) and other methods like that. People are a conglomeration of personality traits that are dominant at different times and therefore cannot be simply classified into a category.
Anyway... enough of my rant!!! Back to learning styles.
I have found something very interesting in my experience, however. I have noticed that when you challenge a student, or push them to learn using one of the styles they are not necessarily attuned to, the student can actually gain a better, and even more thorough understanding of the material. For instance: Given a student with a dominant Auditory learning style, I will challenge the student to use a more kinesthetic approach to the materials. If they can open their minds to this possibility, they will actually have a better understanding that say a straight kinesthetic learner who is using only that style. It is when styles are pushed (not just combined) that they are most effective. I understand that all students are capable of using each of the four primary styles. But it has always been my experience that students will try with all their energy to stick to the one style they feel works the best for them.
I say, Take them out of their comfort zone!! force them to use the other three! the overall impact on their learning is a dramatic improvement not only in numeric grades, but in long term comprehension as well.
Thank you.
Stephen Campbell
I think that's a great idea to challenge students to come out of their comfort zones but I also think it is extremely important the students have a firm understanding of the subject before we force them to learn it in a different way then they are used to. First make sure they know what they are doing and then propose to them, "what if we do it this way instead..."
I agree Michelle,altough I have seen PPT abuse ( scary!)It is really useful to provide a map for the days lesson.
I enjoyed reading about other "avenues" to use with PP. This IT instructor had some good ideas to mix the PP up a bit. I've always been a fan of PP. It helps the instructor stay on task and helps with timing. Both audio and visual learners benefit, plus it helps keep the class upbeat with color, graphics and sound effects.
Wow, what a "happening" classroom you have Jennifer! Having your students give reports and presentations will make them much more comfortable communicating in the workplace.
I've seen the PowerPoint glaze over in class and have just started using other methods. For the most part, I will require that the students do research on a topic and present to the class, so that everyone is actively involved. That way some students use PowerPoint to organize information, or others create a PDF - whatever they're most comfortable with. That way I can mix up presentations a little bit and keep them interesting. The students also do a verbal presentation so the auditory/visual students both respond well.
I also agree with Stephen in terms of using different techniques in the classroom environment through demonstrations, guest lecturers, field trips, and relevant readings. By incorporating all of these, I'm hopefully engaging students with different learning styles in many different ways. I've seen an increase in student participation by including these different methods within the classroom.
Hi Rob - I put your question to one of our best IT instructors. This is his reply to your question.
I completely understand where he is coming from. I think every teacher struggles with that. Anyway, here are a few things that I do to mix it up....
1.) There will be students that are familiar with the PPT topics. So I ask a lot of questions to get the interaction. I don't anticipate them knowing the answer perfectly but it gives them an opportunity to stay involved and it gives me an opportunity to expand on their answer.
2.) I give them a copy of the slides electronically. I then assign them 2 to 5 pages from the book to review well enough that they can give all of us an overview of the material. Depending on the material, I give them about 30 minutes to prepare. We talk very informally as a group and use the PPT to guide us. After each slide, I expand on anything that they missed or didn't explain well enough. By the way, they are encouraged to use the PPT slides. However, I don't let them read them word for word.
3.) I'll teach for 10 or 15 slides (with the interaction from step 1 above) and then let them do 1 small portion of the lab. I repeat this until we are done for the evening.
4.) I introduce current computer topics and discuss them as a break from the material. This easily creates dialogue. For example, last night we watched a 10 minute YouTube clip on Microsoft's Project Natal. We discussed how this type of technology could be adapted to Computer Forensics.
5.) Whenever I give examples that involve people, I always use them in the scenario. You would be surprised the attention that you get when you use their name in an example. In addition to this, be mobile. When I talk, I am always walking around the room. As I approach people, they have no choice but to look at me and listen.
Hopefully that helps. Like I said, I use these to mix it up. I don't use them all in the same day. Let me know if you have anymore questions.
Wow Stephen - what an excellent post! What you describe is an instructor choosing to take it to the next level rather than choosing the comfort zone. Congatulations and continued success!
I teach a lot of computer programming classes and my most common structure is to tell them to read the material in the textbook before coming to class. (written) Then I present the information needed in a PowerPoint lecture (auditory/visual), after which I go through a complete descriptive demonstration (visual/auditory), and finally assign a lab project for them to work on, which they normally start in class and complete at home.
My biggest challenge is to keep many of them engaged and involved in the presentation. I've tried doing the demonstration first and the presentation later, which seems to confuse more than it helps. I've also tried to interleave the demonstration and the lecture, but that takes a much higher level of focus, concentration and organization on my part, and has only worked smoothly in a few cases.
Are there any suggestions for pushing their boundaries and keeping them tuned into my "death by PowerPoint" presentation?
