I agree with Linda. Using different learning styles keep the students engaged, plus it helps them to think critically. I have noticed that students come up with their own ways of solving the assignment problems, when instruction is provided in their area of learning style.
Nisha
Dear Dr. Lewis - Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, understanding how they learn best can certainly empower students to be active in their learning. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Once students realize that they have identified their learning style, they become empowered and seek more ways of acquiring new information in their respective style. In addition, many students ask other students how they became a good auditory listener and may adopt some of their strategies to increase the diversity in their personal learning style.
Knowing students learning styles and providing varied teaching strategies to support those styles is a real treasure. I have given my students the learning style assessment test, identified thier style, and have used that info to do group projects and given varied assignments that feeds the learning style. I personally find it exciting to find creative ways to reflect learning.
Hi Stephanie, Thanks for your post to the forum. That is indeed the best strategy - varying our delivery as much as possible to accomodate the diverse styles. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Hi Peter, That's an excellent point. It's important to discuss how your delivery works to address their learning styles. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Hi Lisa, thanks for a really excellent post to the forum! I especially liked that you mentioned that understanding learning styles allows us to assist our students in improving study skills. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Hi Lawrence, Thanks for your post to the forum. Although it may seem like more work to customize our delivery, it pays off in terms of better learning by our students. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Try to appeal to all students by using all of the learning styles so that each student gets what they need out of the lesson.
Using multiple teaching styles that speak to the various learning styles enhances learning by all students. Because they utilize different learning styles, different teaching styles are warranted.
Knowing the learning styles of your students is incredibly important because it affords an opportunity to make a connection with your students. Even if it is simply giving your students a basic test on learning styles during the first class and discussing the results,it can go a long way toward engaging students in learning and showing the students that the way that they learn best matters to you.
The Instructional benefits of knowing the learning style of your students is paramount. Our intention of teaching is learning. What is the point of standing in front of a class and lecturing for 2 hours if you are only reaching half of the class? I give my students a learning assessment during orientation. Not only does this help me to understand how they learn they also recieve this information (and as you may guess most of them have never been told before.) Yes we still lecture but we are sure to translate the information other ways as well. It also helps an Instructor to reccommend ways for a student to study. I.e. rewriting the information, reading it out loud to themselves, drawing a pic or graph or a combination of these. With all of our classes we are using different teaching modalities to 100%of our students not 50%.
Knowing how my students learn can help the student become successful in my class. I can't be stubborn and say it's my way or the highway. I've had those insturctors in thepast and I do remember struggling in those classes. It's a difficult task to obtain this info from your students but once it is obtain it can become very fulfilling seeing your students succeed will in the class.
Hi Shantal, Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, we certainly find it easier to teach using the style that we personally prefer. However we can be much more effective instructors if we learn to adapt our delivery to the needs of our students. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Hi Dedre, Thanks for your post to the foru. You shared an excellent summary of the value of utilizing information about student learning skills. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Low satisfaction or poor performance in a course or particular activity may be misinterpreted as lack of knowledge or ability, when it is actually difficulty with a particular style of learning.
Teachers with an understanding of their students' learning styles are better able to adapt their teaching methods appropriately. Teachers who introduce a variety of appropriate teaching methods into their classes are more likely to motivate and engage students into learning.
Students who learn about their own style become better learners, they achieve higher grades and have more positive attitudes about their studies, greater self-confidence, and more skill in applying their kno wledge in courses.
Information about learning styles can help teachers become more sensitive to the differences which students bring to the classroom.
Information about learning styles can serve as a guide to the design of learning experiences that either match, or mismatch, students' style, depending on whether the teacher's purpose is efficiency of stude nts' learning or developing skills with a style of learning in which the student is weak.
Information about learning styles can assist in working with poorly prepared or new university students, as the highest drop-out rates occur with those groups.
may can find out how to teach all students most instructors teach in the way they themselves learn
Hi Harry, Thanks for your post to the forum. Yes, as long as we remember to vary our delivery, we will be addressing the learning styles. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
Hi Lindsey, Thanks for your post to the forum. You gave an excellent summary of the effectiveness of teaching to the learning styles. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career.
Susan Polick
In order to more effectively teach a group of diverse learners it is important to understand that there are a wide variety of ways, a variety of learning styles, that lead to mastering a particular subject. Recognizing that even within a small classroom size there is this dynamic helps the instructor to make sure that their presentation of materials is as diverse as the students in their classroom.
