a micropresentation by Sarah Jane Calub & Nicki Hofeditz

DISCOVER YOUR LEARNING STYLE

Why are learning styles important?

• Learning style influences level of learning success (University of Georgia).

• Knowing and exploiting a particular learning style helps students to maximize their learning (Mutiu & Georgeta, 2011).

• Recommending resources based on learning styles is necessary because it really helps students to learn in their own styles (Mutiu & Georgeta, 2011).

• The learning process can be facilitated by professorsʼ direct efforts in identifying studentsʼ learning style, which underlines the importance of having a diversity of resources available for students and to be able to offer them a constructive solution regarding their learning styles (Mutiu & Georgeta, 2011).

• As OTs, knowing how a client prefers to learn helps us design an effective teaching plan

• Understanding different learning preferences helps us communicate better when:

o Providing directionso Teaching a skillo Relating knowledge or information

Why are learning styles important?(continued)

1Learning Objective #1Given a paper version of the VARK assessment, learners will identify (by score they receive on the assessment) their most appropriate learning style from the following categories listed in the assessment:

o Visual learnerso Aural learnerso Read/write learnerso Kinesthetic learners

Learning Objective #2Following the presentation, students will be able to verbally identify two strategies to help them study most effectively based on their score on the VARK.2

Learning Objective #3Following the presentation, students will be able to work with peers that have different learning styles than their own by providing at least one instruction in a format that accommodates the other student's learning preference, whether visual, aural, written, or kinesthetic.3

the VARK Assessment• VARK is about our preferences for taking information into the brain and

communicating them "outwards" (Fleming, 2011). We can do that in one or more of the following ways:

Visual AuralRead/WriteKinesthetic

• Developed to help students understand and adapt their individual learning preferences (Sinclaire, 2012).

• Focuses on the sensory modality dimension of learning, or the way that information is taken in and processed by a learner (Sinclaire, 2012).

SAMPLE QUESTION

You have a problem with your heart. You would prefer that the doctor:

a. used a plastic model to show what was wrong.b. described what was wrong.c. gave you something to read to explain what was wrong.d. showed you a diagram of what was wrong.

(Fleming, 2011)

GROUP ACTIVITY "Building a Bridge"Students will be challenged to provide building instructions in a specific format -- one that accommodates a particular learning preference.

DISCUSSIONWhat are some strategies you could use if you had a teacher that did not present information to you in the method you prefer?

CONCLUSIONKnowing your preference for learning only makes a difference when you apply strategies for a certain learning style (Fleming, 2011).

Multimodal learners many need to use multiple strategies to retain information.

ReferencesBastable, S.B., Gramet, P., Jacobs, K. & Sopczyk, D.L. (2011). Health professional as educator: Principles of teaching and learning. Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Bryant, L. & Jones, N. (2002). Learning styles. Retrieved from: http://snjones.myweb.uga.edu/index.htm

Fleming, N. (2011). What is the VARK? Retrieved from: http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=faq

Leite, W.L., Svinicki, M. & Shi, Y. (2010). Attempted validation of the scores of VARK: Learning style inventory with multitrait-multimethod confirmatory factor analysis models. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 70(2), 323-339.

Mutiu, I. & Georgeta, M. (2011). How to better meet our studentsʼ learning style through the course resources. Annals of the University of Oradea, 20(2), 578-585.

Rogers, K.M. (2009). A preliminary investigation and analysis of student learning style preferences in further and higher education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 33(1), 13-21.

Sinclaire, J. K. (2012). VARK learning style and student satisfaction with the traditional and online courses. International Journal of Education Research, 7(1), 77-89.