What can learning styles do for you?
The ideas of individualised learning styles really originated in the 1970’s, and has gained both increasing popularity and notoriety in recent years. This is probably because learning is really difficult to measure. There is a strong intuitive appeal to the notion, that we all have individual preferences and styles of learning. Critics have said, that just because you know your learning preferences doesn’t mean you’ll improve your learning. To borrow a quote from Neil Flemming (creator of the VARK model) “That is just as true as that knowing one's weight does not help weight loss. However, knowing one's learning preferences can be beneficial, if learners take the next step, and consider how and when they learn, as part of a reflective metacognitive process, with action to follow.”
Various authors have proposed different categories of learning srategies. Examples are Kolb, Honey and Mumford, Dunn and Dunn, and Myers-Briggs. What they all have in common is, that they attempt to classify learners into categories that can be used as the basis for instructional design. There is no currently existing overall, holistic theory of learning preferences; rather there are bits and pieces. In fact, what some call learning styles, others have labelled as cognitive controls, cognitive styles, or personality. For the sake of simplicity, we will use the term "learning styles." Part of the challenge is, that learning research stretches broadly across the specialism’s of psychology, business studies, sociology, management education. Researchers in these areas tend to use different language, and interpret matters in their own terms. In learning strategies theories there are a number of assumptions: Individuals vary in their preferred learning approach Using their preferred means of learning deepens and accelerates learning Students will become more motivated to learn by knowing more about their own strengths and weaknesses as learners
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Why are Learning Styles Important? Adults are generally more resistant to new ideas, and they prefer to be in charge of their own learning and to choose what they want to learn. (see brain principles) If you want to be in charge of your own learning, then a knowledge of your own style of learning can really help you think about your own learning, and be aware of your preferred learning approaches. This understanding of how you think and learn, is called meta cognition and it is an important component of cognitive theory. In plain English this means taking conscious control of your learning by: According to David Kolb Learning Styles are still important because: The Learning Skills Research Centre identified 71 different models of learning styles, and therein is the challenge for most of us. How do you figure out which of these learning models are useful? We have decided to just cover a number of the most popular and well used learning models. Our logic ? well simply because they are the learning models you are most likely to come into contact with. Just look at the many and confusing terms used in the learning field. Learning style, learning strategies, approaches to learning, learning models, learning inventories, teaching styles, learning orientations, learning conditions, thinking styles, cognitive styles. Different learning models reflect different assumptions on learning.For example, a number of the learning style models derive from brain research and the use of different parts of the brain for different functions. Other models are more aligned with more established psychological theories of personality traits and intellectual abilities. From this latter perspective, it is claimed that learning can be defined accurately and then measured through psychological testing in order to predict behaviour and performance. This suggests that learning styles are more fixed and stable and don’t change much over time. Other researchers put forward the view that, it is more useful to look at learning behaviour in different situations in which suggests our learning is more flexible.
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Kolb Cycle When a concrete experience is enriched by reflection, given meaning by thinking, and transformed by action, the new experience created becomes richer, broader, and deeper. According to Kolb: “ELT is also a useful framework for organisational learning, helping to integrate learning with daily work and helping organisations adapt to today’s rapidly changing circumstances.” His favourite quotations from Confucius have become synonymous with experiential learning. He refers to: “I hear and I forget; I see and I remember; I do and I understand”, as one of the most pertinent. Kolb’s model classifies students on two dimensions: concrete experience (CE) or abstract conceptualization (AC) and active experimentation (AE) or reflective observation (RO). Using this model, students are classified into one of four types based on how they perceive information (CE/AC) and how they learn information (AE/RO). The most direct application of the model is to use it to ensure that teaching and training activities give full value to each stage of the process. This may mean that for the trainer or mentor, a major task is to "chase" the learner round the cycle, asking questions which encourage Reflection, Conceptualisation, and ways of testing the ideas. (The Concrete Experience itself may occur outside the training /mentoring session). Kolb also developed a Learning Inventory (LSI) to categorize students In the mid 1970’s Peter Honey and Alan Mumford adapted David Kolb’s model for use with a population of middle/senior managers in business. They published their version of the model in The Manual of Learning Styles (1982)[6] Two adaptations were made to Kolb’s experiential model. Firstly, the stages in the cycle were renamed to accord with managerial experiences of decision making/problem solving. The Honey & Mumford stages are: Secondly, the styles were directly aligned to the stages in the cycle and named Activist, Reflector, Theorist and Pragmatist. These are assumed to be acquired preferences that are adaptable, either at will or through changed circumstances, rather than being fixed personality characteristics. A MORI survey commissioned by [The Campaign for Learning][1] in 1999 found the Honey & Mumford LSQ to be the most widely used system for assessing preferred learning approaches in the local government sector in the UK.
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