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There’s been a lot written about learning styles. More than 650 books published in the United States and Canada alone. Do a Google search on “learning styles” and you get over 2,000,000 results. Most people know if they’re a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner, and instructors often try to design their courses to accommodate the different learning styles so as to ensure that each student’s strongest modality is represented in some fashion.

And yet, not only is it difficult and time-consuming to accurately identify and address the individual learning styles of an entire class, but there’s now a question of whether it’s really necessary.

In the recent online seminar Learning Styles: Fact and Folklore for eLearning, Les Howles, a senior e-learning consultant at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, and Allan Jeong, an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems at Florida State University, talked about the many misconceptions regarding learning styles. The two concluded that “based on several decades of empirical evidence, matching learning activities/strategies with specific learning styles does not often result in improved learning.”

That’s not to say that students don’t have different learning styles, preferences or traits, but when designing the components of an e-learning course, it’s more important to select a modality that is most suitable for the content and supports the learning goals, Howles says. Most students are multimodal and are able to learn in a variety of formats.

Active vs. Reflective Learners

While downplaying some of the intuitive appeal of learning styles, one area where Jeong has seen marked differences is in how active and reflective learners engage in online discussions. In analyzing message exchanges, he found that reflective learners produced significantly more responses than exchanges between active learners.

By requiring students to post a designated number of messages and to do so using one of four message tags, Jeong is able to use discussion boards in a way that plays to the strengths and preferences of both active and reflective learners. The tags also make it easy for instructors to assess discussion board participation and performance. The four post tags are:

1. ARG – a message that presents an argument.
2. EXPL – a reply/message that explains, supports or clarifies an argument.
3. BUT – a reply/message that questions or challenges a previous argument or challenge.
4. EVID – a reply/message that provides evidence to establish the validity of an argument or challenge.

Advice for Online Course Designers

Howles and Jeong offered the following advice for instructional designers:

• Focus most on good instructional message design.
• Select instructional methods and modalities appropriate for the content.
• Focus on developing schemas not just communicating content.
• Focus on what students do in the learning task.
• Don’t discard learning styles entirely, but also focus on a variety of other individual learner differences such as prior knowledge and motivation.
• Read learning styles research (abstracts).

by Mary Bart.

Read more @ http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/learning-styles/do-learning-styles-matter/

To gain a better understanding of yourself as a learner, you need to evaluate the way you prefer to learn or process information. By doing so, you will be able to develop strategies which will enhance your learning potential. The following evaluation is a short, quick way of assessing your learning style. No studies have validated this inventory. Its main benefit is to get you to think about yourself, to consider learning alternatives; not to rigidly classify you.

This 24 item survey is not timed. Answer each question as honestly as you can.

Instructions: Click on the appropriate button after each statement. After answering all questions, click on the Determine Style button below.

About the three styles:

If you are an AUDITORY learner, you may wish to use tapes. Tape lectures to help you fill in the gaps in your notes. But do listen and take notes, reviewing notes frequently. Sit in the lecture hall or classroom where you can hear well. After you have read something, summarize it and recite it aloud.

If your are a VISUAL learner, then by all means be sure that you look at all study materials. Use charts, maps, filmstrips, notes and flashcards. Practice visualizing or picturing words/concepts in your head. Write out everything for frequent and quick visual review.

If you are a TACTILE learner, trace words as you are saying them. Facts that must be learned should be written several times. Keep a supply of scratch paper for this purpose. Taking and keeping lecture notes will be very important. Make study sheets.

Read more @ http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/LSI/LSI.htm

4MAT is a method for helping all learners be successful.  It offers teachers a way reach all the types of learners. If offers learners insight into their personal approaches to learning.

THE question “Is the education system more suited to the learning style of girls?” is an interesting one that appeared in the Sunday Spotlight (March 21) generated three “no” and one “yes” opinions from the four interviewees.

Intrigued by the issue, which was echoed in the editorial for that day, I dug up and analysed my slightly dusty data on learning styles for gender differences.

Empirical data suggests the answer is “yes”, and points to the vital need for a balanced teaching style in our education system.

A few years ago, new students who joined the engineering undergraduate programme at Monash University Sunway Campus were assessed on their learning style preferences using the Felder-Silverman learning style model.

The sample size of the Malaysian students in the survey was modest: 17 girls and 53 boys.

The Felder-Silverman model has four scales: sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, active/reflective and sequential/global.

On each scale, a student is classified as either well-balanced on the two dimensions of the scale or has a preference for one of the two dimensions of the scale.

A sensing learner likes learning and memorising facts, whereas an intuitive learner prefers abstractions such as concepts and theories.

A sensing learner does not mind details and repetitions but an intuitive learner strongly dislikes them.

A visual learner learns best from visual images (diagrams, graphs, flowcharts, pictures or demonstrations). A verbal learner learns most effectively from spoken and written words.

An active learner prefers to learn through group discussion and group work. A reflective learner prefers to learn new material by thinking through the material alone.

A sequential learner can learn the details of a subject in progressive steps without understanding the big picture of how new material relates to previous learned material. In contrast, a global learner needs to understand the big picture before mastering the details.

The teaching style in our schools typically favours the verbal rather than the visual learners, the sequential rather than the global learners.

However, the teaching style typically does not favour either the active or reflective learners because students are passive in class. The active learners do not have the opportunity to discuss or work in a group and the reflective learners do not have time to reflect.

A high percentage of the boys (64 per cent) and girls (53 per cent) in the survey were visual learners.

Seventeen per cent of the boys and six per cent of the girls were global learners.

However, the significantly overlapping confidence intervals of the percentages for boys and girls does not warrant the conclusion that a higher percentage of boys than girls are disadvantaged by the verbal and sequential teaching style in schools.

The teaching style in our schools also typically emphasises rote learning. This teaching style clearly favours the sensing learners over the intuitive learners.

The survey showed that 28 per cent (plus minus 12 per cent) of boys and six per cent (plus minus 11 per cent) of girls are intuitive learners who dislike rote learning.

The findings suggest that a much higher percentage of boys than girls are disadvantaged by the rote teaching style.

It would be interesting to see if the conclusion above still holds in further surveys. A sufficiently large sample size would be needed to see whether a higher percentage of boys than girls are visual learners and global learners.

But regardless of the outcomes of future surveys, the conventional teaching style, which typically favours only the sensing, verbal, sequential learners, must be broadened to cater to the learning styles of all students, boys and girls.

A balanced teaching approach, which benefits the type of learners on either dimension of each scale in the Felder-Silverman learning style model, will lead to a better learning experience and outcomes for all students.

by Associate Professor Lan Boon Leong,  Monash University Sunway Campus.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/22ori/Article/index_html

The way in which people learn affects the sort of mnemonics they should consider using to store information.

The three main learning styles are:

• Visual
• Auditory
  
• Kinaesthetic

No-one uses one of the styles exclusively, and there is usually significant overlap in learning styles.

Visual Learners:

Visual learners relate most effectively to written information, notes, diagrams and pictures. Typically they will be unhappy with a presentation where they are unable to take detailed notes – to an extent information does not exist for a visual learner unless it has been seen written down. This is why some visual learners will take notes even when they have printed course notes on the desk in front of them. Visual learners will tend to be most effective in written communication, symbol manipulation etc.

Visual learners make up around 65% of the population.

Auditory Learners:

Auditory learners relate most effectively to the spoken word. They will tend to listen to a lecture, and then take notes afterwards, or rely on printed notes. Often information written down will have little meaning until it has been heard – it may help auditory learners to read written information out loud. Auditory learners may be sophisticated speakers, and may specialise effectively in subjects like law or politics.

Auditory learners make up about 30% of the population.

Kinaesthetic Learners:

Kinaesthetic Learners learn effectively through touch and movement and space, and learn skills by imitation and practice. Predominantly kinaesthetic learners can appear slow, in that information is normally not presented in a style that suits their learning methods.

Kinaesthetic learners make up around 5% of the population.

Memory Implications of Learning Styles:

Most literature on mnemonics assumes the visual approach to learning styles – mnemonics are recommended to be as visually appealing and memorable as possible. If you are an auditory or kinaesthetic learner you may find that this emphasis on imagery leads to ineffective recall. In this case, try adjusting the mnemonics to suit your learning style: if you are an auditory learner, use auditory cues to create your mnemonics. If you are a kinaesthetic learner, imagine performing actions or using tools as the basis of memory techniques.

Source:

http://www.mindtools.com/mnemlstylo.htm

Learn Effectively by Understanding Your Learning Preferences:

Have you ever tried to learn something fairly simple, yet failed to grasp the key ideas? Or tried to teach people and found that some were overwhelmed or confused by something quite basic?

If so, you may have experienced a clash of learning styles: Your learning preferences and those of your instructor or audience may not have been aligned. When this occurs, not only is it frustrating for everyone, the communication process breaks down and learning fails.

Once you know your own natural learning preference, you can work on expanding the way you learn, so that you can learn in other ways, not just in your preferred style.

And, by understanding learning styles, you can learn to create an environment in which everyone can learn from you, not just those who use your preferred style.

Felder and Silverman’s Index of Learning Styles:

One of the most widely used models of learning styles is the Index of Learning Styles developed by Richard Felder and Linda Silverman in the late 1980s. According to this model (which Felder revised in 2002) there are four dimensions of learning styles. Think of these dimensions as a continuum with one learning preference on the far left and the other on the far right.

Figure 1: Learning Styles Index

Sensory

Intuitive

Sequential

Global

Once you know where your preferences lie on each of these dimensions, you can begin to stretch beyond those preferences and develop a more balanced approach to learning. Not only will you improve your learning effectiveness, you will open yourself up to many different ways of perceiving the world.

Balance is key. You don’t want to get too far on any one side of the learning dimensions. When you do that you limit your ability to take in new information and make sense of it quickly, accurately, and effectively.

Using the Learning Style Index:

You can us the learning style index to develop your own learning skills and also to help you create a rounded learning experience for other people.

(I)  Developing Your Learning Skills

Step One:
Identify your learning preferences for each learning dimension. Read through the explanations of each learning preference and choose the one that best reflects your style.

Step Two:
Analyze your results and identify those dimensions where you are “out of balance,” meaning you have a very strong preference for one style and dislike the other.

Step Three:
For each out of balance area, use the information in figure 2 to improve your skills in areas where you need development.

(II) Creating a Rounded Learning Experience for Others

Whenever you are training or communicating with others, you have information and ideas that you want them to understand and learn effectively and efficiently. Your audience is likely to demonstrate a wide range of learning preferences, and your challenge is to provide variety that helps them learn quickly and well.

Your preferred teaching and communication methods may in fact be influenced by your own learning preferences. For example, if you prefer visual rather than verbal learning, you may in turn tend to provide a visual learning experience for your audience.

Be aware of your preferences and the range of preference of your audiences. Provide a balanced learning experience by:

Sensory – Intuitive: Provide both hard facts and general concepts.

Visual – Verbal: Incorporate both visual and verbal cues.

Active – Reflective: Allow both experiential learning and time for evaluation and analysis.

Sequential – Global: Provide detail in a structured way, as well as the big picture.

Key Points:

Learning styles and preferences vary for each of us and in different situations.

By understanding this, and developing the skills that help you learn in a variety of ways, you make the most of your learning potential. And because you’re better able to learn and gather information, you’ll make better decisions and choose better courses of action.

And by understanding that other people can have quite different learning preferences, you can learn to communicate your message effectively in a way that many more people can understand. This is fundamentally important, particularly if you’re a professional for whom communication is an important part of your job.

Take time to identify how you prefer to learn and then force yourself to break out of your comfort zone. Once you start learning in new ways you’ll be amazed at how much more you catch and how much easier it is to assimilate information and make sense of what is going on.

Source:

http://www.mindtools.com/mnemlsty.html

Research has revealed the importance of adjusting learning styles to the learner. The closer the match between students’ learning styles and their teachers’ teaching styles – the higher the grade point average (R. Dunn, Griggs, Olson, Gorman, and Beasley, 1995).

R. Dunn and Griggs (1995) in his Learning Style Model indicated that students are affected by five main factors:

1.   Students’ immediate environment such as sound, light, temperature,  and furniture setting / design.

• Many students require quiet while concentrating on difficult information, while others literally learn better with sound;
• Many people concentrate better in brightly illuminated rooms, while others do better in soft light;
• Some students achieve better in warm environments , while others in cold environments;
• Some people prefer studying in a wooden, plastic, or steel chair, but others find conventional classroom seats so uncomfortable and are preventing them from learning.

2.   Students’ own emotionality affect their ability to learn.

• Students’ inner motivation;
• Persistence to complete assignments;
• Ability to take responsibility for their own behavior and work;
• The opportunity to do things in their own way.

3.   Students’ sociological preferences also affect learning.

• learning alone, in pairs, in small groups, as part of a team, with either an authoritative or collegial adult;
• wanting variety as opposed to patterns and routines.

4.   Students’ physiological characteristics can also affect when and how students learn best such as:

• time of day;
• outside stimulation;
• energy level;
• mobility while studying;

Understanding students’ physiological characteristics will let teachers  help students learn based on their perceptual strengths. For example teachers could encourage students to study at their best time of day, which might be early in the morning; before they leave for school; during lunch or study halls; immediately after school; or in the evening before they go to bed.

5.   The way students process information can also affect learning abilities. For example, more analytical students tend to be persistent. They may not always start an assignment immediately; but once they start doing, they have a strong emotional urge to continue until the task is done, or until they come to a place where they feel they can stop. As for global learners, they tend to prefer learning with what conventional teachers think of as distractions such as:

• sound : music, tapping, or conversation;
• an informal design : lounging comfortably;
• soft illumination : covering their eyes or wearing sunglasses indoors;
• peer orientation: wanting to work with a friend;
• a need for food (snacks) while study;
• left-brain mode students: process information sequentially and analytically;
• right-brain mode students: process information in a holistic, simultaneous and global manner;
• impulsive students: will not spend much time in learning;
• reflective students: will spend time thinking about the information, understanding the content being taught.  (R. Dunn and K Dunn, 1992).

6.   The Learning Style Model and its benefits:

R. Dunn and K. Dunn (1992) indicated the benefits of a comprehensive model of learning styles because not only are many individuals affected by different elements of a learning style; but so many of the learning elements are capable of increasing academic achievement.

Using the Learning Style Model, teachers can test and identify students’ learning styles accurately (Beaty, 1986). The Learning Style Model is a reliable and valid instrument and the only comprehensive one that can diagnose the many style traits that influence individuals (Shaughnessy, 1998).

• Students having a knowledge of their learning style – improved self esteem.  When children understand how they learn and how they struggle to learn, they can be more in control of their environment and ask for what they need (Martin and Potter, 1998).  O’ Brien (1989) stated that “perhaps schools should spend more time developing students awareness of their study style rather then pushing teachers into more in-service workshops about adapting curriculum”.
• When students understand their learning style, they no longer need to feel different. “Students can learn almost any subject matter when they are taught with methods and approaches responsive to their learning style strengths; these same students fail when they are taught in an instructional style not inline with their strengths” (R. Dunn, 1990). De Bello, (1996) argued that “principals and teachers have a responsibility to make parents aware of their children need for a study environment that reflect their learning styles strengths”. “Perhaps the most important people who need to understand the concept of individual style are parents” (Guild and Garger, 1985).
• Students achieve more when their teachers teach according to students’ learning styles. Studies conducted by R. Dunn revealed that students whose characteristics were accommodated by educational interventions responsive to their learning styles could be expected to achieve 75 percent of a standard deviation higher than students whose styles were not accommodated.

Source:

http://www.intime.uni.edu/model/teacher/teac 1 summary.html