learning styles

Posted by karen pickering on December 28, 2015 at 4:37pm in Learning Design

Hi all im quiet new to L+D , I have delivered a few training courses but im really intrested in getting hold of some courses support like question sheets to determine what sort of learning style my trainees have can someone suggest where i could get this from

thanks Karen

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karen pickering January 16, 2016 at 2:16pm

Thanks to eveyone thats has sent me advise on the subject i have looked at the material you have sent me and listerned to to comments and think i agree with most of you that although there clearly are different learing styles we use them in different % accoeding to the learing we are doing at that time and proberbly also the subject and even outside influences determine this .

With this in mind i think it shows that where ever possible including all the four learing styles in a training programme would ensure the learns get the most from the session

Thanks again for all your help

Karen
Alison Simmons January 7, 2016 at 11:51am

HI Karen,

There is a nice quick quiz available free online by VARK.

I use it as part of my "Train the Trainer" course (for training our factory "on the job" trainers). Most adults are hybrid learners and the VARK quiz usually reveals this. The VARK website also provides info on the styles and how to teach to make sure people's preferences are used.

The theory is that you will only massively prefer one way of learning if as a child you were taught to learn predominantly that way. These days teachers use a range of styles so children learn using all the functions of their brain.

Where I work, my delegates nearly always describe themselves as "hands on" learners, which is common for adults.

We then do a practical exercise which, unbeknownst to them, is about to demonstrate to them how brilliant they are at learning from listening (when motivated to do so!)

There is a lot of literature available on "accelerated learning" which you might find interesting when considering the factors that impact upon how people learn :)
- Krystyna Gadd > Alison Simmons January 8, 2016 at 4:12pm
  VARK are not learning styles but the ways in which we take in information and 80% of the information we store is stored visually. What we should be helping our learners to do is to become better learners by:
  
  Doing something
  
  Reflecting on it
  
  Making sense of it through theories etc
  
  Adapting it to our own situations
  
  When designing learning, design with variety to create a rich learning experience where the learning is encountered in many different ways:
  
  VARK
  
  Honey & Mumford
  
  Howard Gardeners Multiple Intelligences
  
  Krystyna
  - Alison Simmons > Krystyna Gadd January 11, 2016 at 3:13pm
    
    Yes Krystyna is right :)
- karen pickering > Alison Simmons January 8, 2016 at 1:19pm
  
  Thanks for this I will give it a look
  
  Karen
Helen Jeffery January 5, 2016 at 10:08am

Hi Karen, great to see you are looking at how to use different methods/tools in your workshops and you will get plenty of chance to practise this in the DPG workshops too :-). As Ady has commented, there is indeed quite a lot of debate about this! I find looking at learning styles quite useful but keep an open mind, as I too believe people can change according to the mood, situation etc and may not fit a type. However, I have found it very useful when I've worked in different environments to think about how people may like to learn e.g. working with academics at a University who wanted lots of theory and links to research so they could follow up and look for evidence.

Great to see you've got some questionnaires to try out - I'd be interested to hear in a workshop how you find it :-)

Helen
Ady Howes January 5, 2016 at 8:58am

HI Karen. Welcome to the exciting world of L&D.

There seems to be a lot of debate on learning styles since they were first created. It seems many people are of the opinion that their learning style changes depending on what they're learning, the content. the context and their mood for the day. I'm certainly of the opinion that we're not fixed in the way that we learn. Sometimes, I like to reflect, sometimes I need to get stuck in, often I need to understand the practical implications of what I'm learning as well as some of the theory behind.

Take a look at this discussion that has more of this debate on it: http://community.dpgplc.co.uk/blog/honey-and-mumford-learning-style...
Tracey Gray January 4, 2016 at 3:47pm

Hi Karen,

I have a Honey and Mumford learning styles questionnaire and scoring that I am happy to share but cannot upload for some reason (probably my works IT) do you have an email address I can send it to?

Thanks

Tracey
- karen pickering > Tracey Gray January 5, 2016 at 9:23am
  
  Tracey
  
  my email address is Karen.pickering@saladworks.co.uk
  
  thanks for your support
  
  Karen