What is your Learning Style?

What Learning Style do you use?

Adults have very different and specific learning needs, as opposed to teaching children. Because the adult must self-direct their own learning, knowing their individual learning style is important. Learners often need to "learn-to-learn" to expedite their understanding. In reality hey may not actually have a full understanding of how they themselves learn best. Adult learners must have a purpose, or a measurable outcome, to gauge overall success. Also, they need time to contemplate and apply the concepts within their own context. Adults seek to modify and adapt the learned ideas with simulations using their unique style and perspective. If adults can't find a cognitive connection, they may disengage and check out.

Adult learning requires greater attention to the delivery design and packaging of the information within the appropriate context rather than the more directive methods used with children. Finally, Because they have limited time they want to maximize efficiency and may not tolerate extraneous information that does not apply to them. Adults are constantly weighing the economy of time and investment to adopt the concepts or reject them.

There are many different thoughts and lists regarding learning styles, but most of us have a primary style and employ others at various times. Also groups may take on specific learning styles due to job function, context, and member learning-style make up. Still some researchers say that there is little validity of learning styles at all. What do you think? Do people learn in different ways?

1) Written Verbal Learning predominates as the method used most to concepts with written words, outlines, and charts. However, it definitely has its limitations. These learners often need quiet space and employ many different highlighter, note cards, and make margin notes. This is because reading is a actually a demanding cognitive task. Have you ever read a paragraph, over and over repeatedly, and it still doesn't make sense? Maybe you have reached your saturation of this learning method and need another to engage your brain! Although reading requires a relatively high-level focus and concentration, it may be the easiest delivery for dissemination of material for instructors. Only 21.7% of Males and 38.2% of females use this style so we may be only reaching about ? of the learners with verbal learning!

2) Aural/Audio Learners need to hear information and prefer to read concepts aloud to process them better. They need lectures and audio explanations. Sometimes they may even close their eyes in meetings so they can completely shield the "distraction" of visual information or social interaction. When recalling a memory they actually hear the voice of the teacher or coach and the nature of their voice as well as the context. They may also connect concepts to other auditory cues like laughing, tones, or other characteristics.Sometimes these learners create songs like the "School House Rock" lessons. In the population 35% of Males and 28.4% of females use this learning style, since it allows them to process visual and auditory learning simultaneously.

3) Visual Learners take an impressive amount of notes and seek out supportive images. They find so many notes and visual images they may never use them all! They may not actually read, but "cherry pick" relevant facts by hunting for them. They enjoy the use of pictures and will find multimedia or draw images that accompany a lecture and may use other YouTube lessons to support verbal learning. This is why bullet points have to be limited in any presentation for this group. They employ flashcards, cartoons, and Post-Its everywhere to remind them of things, and keep a myriad of little "cheat sheets" for meetings. It has been shown that the physical act of writing things down does increase memory of the event, even if the note itself is forgotten. Visual Learners create games and funny mnemonics to remember things. They are a whopping 48.7% and 38.2% of learners. Although this is their learning style of choice they have learned to adapt to the Verbal learning, but continually hunger for images, pictures, and videos!

4) Tactile Learners hold things as they learn and may have an array of "Fidgit Toys" available to stimulate understanding. They often ignore verbal directions and dive in into simulations like video games. Many clinicians learn "play" with objects first to compare them to their existing knowledge, then learn the verbal information later. Often they are kinesthetic learners as well. One of my students enjoyed knitting while I lectured, which certainly took time to get used to! Tactile and kinesthetic learners are only 17.3% of males and females, but more for younger adults. This group is sometimes mislabeled as distracted learners, but it is really the delivery method that his the issue. They just need time to play quietly!

5) Interactive Learners need to discuss things in "Brainstorming Sessions" and make new discoveries as they express themselves. They tire quickly of one-dimensional teacher-to-learner classroom style and depurate want to have a conversation! Do you recite things or "talk to yourself" in the shower or mirror to exhibit this learning. Interactive learners love real time or virtual "field trips" to engage things and other directly. They love games like Family Feud or Jeopardy to drive discussion, conversation, and competition. They are also mislabeled as disruptive, but they really just want to participate!

6) Kinesthetic Learners learn by movement, and can be the most difficult learning style to help in a meeting or classroom setting. These learners need to feel how a device works and incorporate it in real simulations and movement. They need frequent stretch breaks every 15-20 minutes that can be used as break out sessions. If not they will exit anyway to walk around with their phone! This group enjoys role play and focused "learning stations" that rotate every 5-10 minus, but allow interaction with concepts and others. These are about 17.3% males and females of any group who also may be tactile learners too. Socrates advocated the method of "peripatetic learning," or learning while walking, because it engaged the Physical, Intellectual, and Spiritual self simultaneously!

From the list above do you think different Learning Styles exist at all? What is your primary learning style, and what are the others you utilize from time to time? How could you use this to develop learning events to employ multiple learning styles to provide variety and engagement for a larger number of the group? Although virtual delivery has greatly limited what we can do, consider employing at least three learning style in some form to provide better engagement!