MODULE THREE: Personal Learning Styles

OVERVIEW: Preceptor Education >> Module Three >> Personal Learning Styles

We have known that people differ in how they learn, think and problem-solve. Learning styles refer to the characteristic way a person processes information and behaves in a learning environment. There are different variables addressed in each learning style inventories. Some learning styles look at how people “take in” information most effectively through a particular sensory method. Some utilize our preference to process and “make sense” of information, while others take aspects of our innate temperament and personality traits that influence how we learn, interact with and interpret our environment.

Formal testing of learning styles is available but equally beneficial is simply reflecting, thinking, observing and communicating with our learners about how they process their learning. More importantly then knowing the learning style of our learners is to know our own learning style. The method we choose to instruction is often in the same method we learn best. We tend to gravitate to colleagues and students that work the same way we do because their learning style is similar to our own. We are most comfortable in this situation and we learn at our best when we are comfortable.

Understanding different learning styles will enable a preceptor to adapt to facilitate learning. For instance, recognizing that one student learns best through listening, one prefers to see the material and another is most comfortable actually trying out information in real situations. As a preceptor, organizing a learning activity that involves telling, showing and doing will ensure that each learner will be operating, at least part of the time, in their own preferred learning style. Cycling through all styles will encourages deep, long-lasting learning.

Understanding learning styles is a tool to support and appreciate preferences and approaches to learning, and to facilitate respect and celebrate of differences.

Two learning style inventories that will be discussed are the VATK inventory and the Kolb Learning inventory.

VATK

VATK is an acronym for Visual Auditory Tactile Kinaesthetic learning styles which represents our “innate” preference to receive information from the world around us.

Visual learners learn best by experiencing rich visual images.

  • Watching others perform new skills;
  • Colour and graphic visual presentation;
  • Written summaries;
  • Strong description and imagery

Auditory learners learn best by experiencing rich sound stimuli.

  • Use of spoken language, music, or other sounds;
  • Talk things through, verbalizing steps;
  • Verbal prompts during performance of new skills.

Tactile learners learn by experiencing through touch and manipulation.

  • Hand on experience;
  • Difficulty learning through only listening and observing.

Kinaesthetic learners learn best when involved with the information in a physical active way.

  • Hard to sit passively listening or watching for any length of time.
  • Worth offering small active tasks frequently.

 

Kolb Learning Inventory

Any learning style will help you understand how you learn best in an educational setting and in everyday life. The Kolb Learning Inventory can be described as a cycle made up of four basic phases. This learning style inventory will give you a better understanding of how you learn and knowing will enable you to;

  • Maximize your learning from educational programs
  • Solve problems
  • Work in teams
  • Manage disagreement and conflict
  • Make career choices
  • Improve personal and professional relationships.

The way we think about information is through the process of either Concrete Experience or Abstract Conceptualization thereby creating the Perception Continuum.

The way we do things is the process of either Reflective Observation or Active Experimentation, thereby creating the Processing Continuum.

Thinking = Perception Doing = Processing

When you use both continuums in an experience, we expand our potential to learn. You may begin a learning process in any of the four phases of the learning cycle and would cycle through all four phases in a well-rounded learning process. There may be moments where you sometimes skip a phase in the cycle or focus primarily on just one.

The combination of how you do things and how you think about things creates our specific and preferred learning style. These are Diverging, Assimilating, Converging and Accommodating styles. If, for example, you prefer to think about things through feeling (Concrete Experiences) and do things through watching (Reflective Observation), you would have a Diverging style of learning. If you prefer to think about things through thinking (Abstract Conceptualization) and doing things through doing (Active Experimentation), then your preferred learning style is Converging and so on.

The Diverging Style

  • Combination of Concrete Experiences and Reflective Observation phases.
  • Views concrete situations from many different viewpoints.
  • Approaches situations through observing rather than taking action.
  • Enjoys situations that call for generating a wide range of ideas, such as brainstorming sessions.
  • May have broad cultural interests and like to gather information.
  • Opts for working in groups to gather information, listening with an open mind and receiving personalized feedback in formal learning situations.

The Assimilating Style

  • Combines the Reflective Observation and Abstract Conceptualization phases.
  • Understands a wide range of information and putting it into concise, logical form.
  • Less focused on people and more interested in abstract ideas and concepts.
  • Theory must have logical soundness than practical value.
  • Prefer lectures, readings, exploring analytical models and having time to think things through on your own in formal learning situations.

The Converging Style

  • Combines the Abstract Conceptualization and Active Experimentation phases.
  • Finds practical uses for ideas and theories.
  • Solves problems and makes decisions based on finding solutions to questions or problems.
  • Deals with technical tasks and problems than with social and interpersonal issues.
  • Prefers experimenting with new ideas, simulations, laboratory assignments and practical applications in formal learning situations.

The Accommodating Style

  • Combines the Active Experimentation and Concrete Experience phases.
  • Has the ability to learn primarily from ‘hands-on’ experiences.
  • Enjoys carrying out plans and involving yourself in new and challenging experiences.
  • Acts on intuition rather than logical analysis.
  • Relies more heavily on people for information than on your own technical analysis to solve problems.
  • Prefers to work with others to get assignments done, to set goals, to do field work and to test out different approaches to completing a project in formal learning situations.

Remember that setting up a learning experience that includes all four phases of the learning cycle will incorporate all type of learners at one stage or another. This will also maximize and stimulate deep learning in each individual. If there a student is having difficulty understanding a concept or principle then acknowledging their preferred style and starting their learning process where they are most comfortable. This will facilitate and enable a more effective learning experience for them.

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