As instructors our biggest goal is to help our students succeed. One of the best ways of doing this is to deliver content and provide learning activities that appeal to all students. In order to appeal to all of our students, we have to provide approaches and resources that address the different learning styles. Classes are not only diverse in areas of cultural and social backgrounds, but also in the area of learning styles; therefore, to be more effective in helping our students reach their educational goals, we need to strive to ensure that we are addressing the diversity in learning styles among our students by providing instruction incorporating, in some way, all four of the learning styles.
You want to maximize the learning experience for each student. Knowing what style suits them best will allow you to vary the style
Students learn in a variety of ways, so it is important to provide materials and resources that support their various learning styles. This approach is important for a number of reasons: it helps students connect better with the material; it helps students to see that others learn in different ways (which has implications on the job as well); and I think it helps to keep the instructor engage, always searching for new strategies and techniques to reach students.
Doing so will maximize learning of all students in the class whether they are visual, auditory, written or tactile learners.
Hi Stephen, Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, a mixed approach to delivery options is generally the best strategy! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
I think this has even more relevance now that we have multiple 'generations' in the classroom at the same time. The room may have Gen X, and Millennial, and even Boomers at the same time and each has different comfort levels and learning approaches. This is on top of the general learning styles. Keeping a mixture of approaches will hopefully keep all engaged. It also allows them to interact better with one style helping another.
Hi Peggy, I agree that we need to also expose student to other learning styles as they will be encountering that in the workplace. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
The students will get much more out of the class if I present the information in a variety of formats according to the learning styles of the students. They will absorb the information better and also find it more enjoyable.
Student learn better with their primary learning style so the student needs to have resources and approaches that hit that style. You should have the other approaches as well because they can learn from them as well.
Hi Camille, Thanks for your post to the forum. You shared the significance of teaching to the learning styles. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Learning styles affect how a person learns, participates in activities, relates to others, solves problems and shares information. It is important to provide approaches and resources that complement the learning styles of the students because:
- It can help in understanding and identifying the differences among students.
- It can also help to develop a range of teaching methods and strategies to build on the different strengths individual students bring to the classroom.
- Knowing how students differ may aid the instructor to help the students expand their range of learning strategies.
Identifying the different learning styles of the students can improve the instructor's ability to provide instructional alternatives/methods to match to the student’s learning style; thus increasing the student’s chance for significant academic improvement.
Students learning styles are diverse and a well-rounded educator needs to strive to fill those needs every time they step into a classroom.
I would say that it's just common sense to use techniques that matches or closely matches the students learning styles. To do otherwise would be using bad judgement and would also be against logic.
Hi Linda, Thanks for sharing some good examples of delivery options!
Susan Polick
I find that most text books today have either DVD's or websites which offer resources for each type of learner. I try to incorporate these resources into my lesson plans as much as possible.
Written word and Auditory: We often read from the text as lecture from a PP presentation,
Visual: watch a video or demonstrate techniques on a student
Kinesthetic: everyone has an opportunity to trade hands-on work.
Some classes lend themselves to these activities far better than others
Hi Mariann, Thanks for your post to the forum. I agree that we can go overboard with powerpoint. Still, it can be worthwhile to create a good presentation that can be used many times. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Student differ widely not only in their learning styles, but their manner to which they approach learning. It is therefore important to support many different learning styles and approaches. If you are successful in offering many different resources and approaches, you will be perceived as a competent and dynamic Instructor by the students.
Supporting the differing styles of students does take time and effort on the part of the Instructors. Some instructors spend a great deal of time putting together powerpoint presentations which will only be seen for a few moments. I find that for myself in most of our field of interest that utilizing illustrations and information in the textbook or reference journals is just as effective. As competent and effective instructors we too must use our time to best advantage using our strengths and abilities.
we have a wide range of learning styles we also have a wide range of age in our classes from 17 to 60 so trying to accommodate all of that is very difficult I try to keep it simple without boring the students that my have a little more knowledge
Hi Holli, Thanks for your post to the forum. Since I mostly teach adult students, I have many times seen students who finally learn how they learn best and are suddenly successful. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
