What’s your learning style?

Ooh, where’s my soapbox? You’ve touched on my favourite flashpoint, here

I am so opposed to the pigenoholing of people by learning style. I was most gratified by the research that tore the concept to shreds: http://www.lsda.org.uk/files/PDF/1543.pdf

My university class on principles of instruction and learning is – of course – touching on learning styles early on. So of course we did our own and – of course – it’s blog-worthy. I’m a huge believer in not pigeonholing too – anywhere…gender, culture, age, etc., etc. Learning styles frequently comes up in discussions around the benefits of e-learning and I cringe a little. It’s true, e-learning is better for some than others but it *so* depends on content, context, prior knowledge, etc. Argh. Should be an interesting discussion in class next week…I’m writing a paper too. Thanks for the link and, as always, I welcome soapbox discussions here.

I love to debunk learning styles! I also like online quizzes. According to this one, I have a “very strong” visual learning preference (score was 14). My “weakest” style was aural (1).

According to this theory, I should learn to play a tune by looking at a transcription of it. But actually, I strongly prefer to learn music by ear, and I do it a lot.

Maybe a learning style theorist should stand over me while I learn by ear and tell me I really can’t do what I’m doing because I’m a “visual learner.”

Learning styles and other attractively simple theories are well-intentioned attempts to improve instruction, but simple isn’t always better.

Scott Simmerman on the TRDEV=L list once posted that his Myers-Briggs type is GFNJ: Guy From New Jersey.

On VARK, I wasn’t especially surprised to see “multimodal,” but I’m surprised at the distribution:
– Visual: 8
– Aural: 4
– Read/Write: 11
– Kinesthetic: 11

I would have guessed read/write higher, kinesthetic lower, and aural higher as well — but that’s in part because of a claim I heard from someone that so-called aural learners need not only to hear but to speak. I will sometimes, while explaining or discussing, interrupt myself — a new viewpoint comes to mind as I’m talking about whatever.

The rationale is supposedly that I’m processing the idea while talking about it. (I’m ignoring the alternate rationale that I don’t know what I’m talking about.)

For me learning styles can be an interesting area of discussion during a training/development programme but I’ve found that the reality is that the way in which people prefer to learn depends on; who they are, how they’re feeling, who is influencing them, what they are learning, their prior experiences, their motivation,….. I could go on but am in danger of getting on that soap box!!

Took the quiz and it was what I expected – multimodal. Learning styles are good to get an idea of how one might learn but, as with everything, one must realize that all situations are contextual and what might work for most may not work for all. I know that I would prefer just to work with things and forgo the instructions but there are times when I know that reading the instructions will be the best route. I know that people are always trying to figure out how to best take advantage of their strengths and it does help one’s teaching if you can use a variety of teaching strategies in order to access as many learning styles as possible. Thanks for the link!

Today I came in as a multimodal learner with Visual being my weakest at 6 and Kinesthetic my strongest at 9. In the past, I’ve always scored highest on Visual. I guess today I’m feeling a bit more hands on.

I’ve been struggling with the whole learning styles notion. My latest conclusion: we all have different learning styles and they change on a daily basis. But the research does not seem to support educators even bothering with it — that all this research is a waste.

Did you see this article from The Telegraph a few months ago?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/29/nteach129.xml

According to Baronness Greenfield,
“The rationale for employing Vak learning styles appears to be weak. After more than 30 years of educational research in to learning styles there is no independent evidence that Vak, or indeed any other learning style inventory, has any direct educational benefits.”

Cammy-
See Karyn’s link above. It’s a good research piece on learning styles that basically supports your the article you reference. I think what’s important is that we recognize that there are different styles. Like people styles (the 4 quadrants), it depends on so much. If I know a group, I’m more ‘expressive,’ if I don’t, more ‘analytical,’ etc. I think recognizing the fact that we can’t lump anyone into categories keeps us aware and open to consider new ways of presenting information. We should just use the best tool in our toolbox and offer options. It’s like eating style. Right now I seem to be surviving on caffeine and sugar…next week probably fruits and veggies. Probably.

I don’t disagree that we have different styles — that’s what makes it all so interesting But I’m no longer convinced that all of the effort spent on learning to teach to those different learning styles is the best approach. Don’t get me wrong — I’m all for understanding your students and getting a feel for who they are…Of course, this is less important (perhaps) in the e-Learning arena.

Yes, we should provide multiple representations of content. Some would argue that appeals to different learning styles; others would say that works because it provides repetition and reinforcement.

I took the VARK Learning Styles questionaire. Here is what i came up with. Visual:9,Aural:13,Read/Write:14,Kinesthetic:10. It told me I had a multimodal learning preference.If I took a little out of each list and combined them…would that be a good learnable package?I’m in college and can’t afford to mess up. I told a neighbor of mine and she tried to say that I was mentally retarded or something. I asked her how did she know…you know she just walked away. What would be a good comeback when someone says something like that?Did I handle that situation appropriately or is there some hidden truth in what she said somewhere in the deck of cards so to speak?

I am at a loss.

Why is confidential information about myself on Google? This is not supposed to be publicized! That is so illegal that it isn't even funny!