Learning is NOT about the “SENSE”!

When I first heard of “VAK Sensory Learning Styles – Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic”, it did not make logical sense to me at all, but I did not want to say anything until I had found the science and research proofs –?Dr. Tesia Marshik is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Her research interests in educational psychology include student motivation, self-regulation, and teacher-student relationships.?She openly talked about this at her TEDx Talk April 5, 2015, acknowledging that there were a lot of research and science outcomes supported this claim: Learning is NOT about the SENSE!?

I know I am visual and auditory. When I say so, it actually means visual triggers my brain thinking and registering what I see, and audio stimulates my brain cells to make me stay awake and focused, but these do not make me “learn” – I can learn something instantly when I understand; What makes me understand? The LOGIC, when I see the logic, when what it teaches makes sense, and when I see the full picture and agree.?

Visual and audio are the icing on the cake, these two could make my learning more pleasant, that’s all.??The truth is, even without the visual aids, I can visualize the whole thing in my brain. People do not understand what a “visual” person is. A visual person means, he or she will visual everything they see and hear in the brain, not necessary a physical diagram or picture.??I will convert the “words or sentences” into visual form in my brain in order to understand. This is the point, you may think you have provided me visual form of information, but it might not match the one in my brain. I do not take any information unprocessed; I must process it in my brain and produce my own outcomes in visual form in my brain – I don’t care who you are. You could be the genius, the PhD holder, the specialist, the authority of that field, etc., I will not take what you say without processing it in my brain and see it clearly in visual form.?

Do you consider this as “learning style”? NO.??My learning style is “logic” – when I see the logic, I will learn it instantly. Learning style is how your brain processes. Like my mom’s learning style is “layman’s term”, that means, I must explain everything in a way she can relate within her sphere of life. This is her learning style. Do you get it??

Learning is about the brain, not about the sense. If the “senses” are the learning styles, everyone should learn easily, why learning is a struggle? a pain in the neck? This is the simple logic. "Sense" makes you feel better, that's all - it makes your learning more pleasant. Perhaps, it will make more sense if you think about these questions: what is the learning goal? Is the goal increasing knowledge or building skills???Most people focus on imparting knowledge, thinking "you will know what to do when you have the knowledge".??BIG X!??Knowing is one thing, doing it is another thing - this is the reality. Most people do not know how to apply knowledge because most people are passive learners, not active learners.??That means, most people are actually teaching knowledge, not building skills, this is the problem.

I talked to someone who was responsible for “learning & development” in a large corporation. I asked her how she did her job? She told me all kinds of techniques and experience, she was very proud of her programs, courses, seminars, workshops, etc. That means, she has been busy at doing the programs, teaching courses via seminars or workshops. Then, I asked her:??as a result? Did they learn? What were the purposes? Did you achieved the purposes? How do you know they needed all these teachings? ………..she was speechless for a while, then she said these were the “learning & development” tasks/jobs, she has to do these jobs based on what she had learned from the past and from her bosses.??Do you see the point? People are doing it as jobs - what all the seniors, bosses, or experts are doing. Nothing organic - they copy, follow, and do what are expected to do. Do you see the point? They don’t even know if these teachings are still relevant, serve the purpose, achieve the goals???My curiosity is: are the audience the same? If the audience are different, why the teachings are the same? Human beings are different. The Millennials and Gen Z are different, why would the teachings be the same? Think about it.?

Ultimately, the market is flooded with all the people who are good at doing programs, courses, seminars, workshops, etc., and they are seen as the "experts" of learning & development, just because they are good at conducting courses, trainings, workshops, programs, etc. They may "teach", but they don't build - because building takes time, it is organic, you must understand the needs first, you must understand the audience - how they think, how they learn, are they ready to learn, do they want to learn, if not, why? .....etc.