Learning Styles

Different people have different learning styles. Some learn more if they are told how to do something while others learn better when they actually carry out the task themselves. Below I explain each of these learning styles. At the bottom of the page is a link to a test which you can take to find out what your preferred learning style is.

Active

Active learners take in more information through discussing a task or explaining it to others. As they work better by discussing a task with others, active learners tend to work better whenever they are put into groups. Active learners will concentrate more if their classes involve some sort of group work or activity instead of just constant lecturing.

Active learners:

1. Take in more information by discussing it with others;
2. Work better when put into groups;
3. Prefer activities or group work to leactures.

Reflective

Reflective learners prefer to work independently in comparison with active learners who prefer to work in groups. Reflective learners need time to think about the information they are being told so that they can get a better understanding of it. They prefer to work by themselves instead of working with others as this gives them more time to think about the task at hand. During classes or lectures they need breaks in order for them to analyse and think about what has been said.

Reflective learners:

1.  Need to have time to think about what they are being told;
2. They prefer to work alone;
3. Prefer to have breaks to analyse and think about what they are being told.

Sensing

Sensing learners prefer to learn using well known tried and tested methods to solve problems. If they have not specifically covered a topic in a class or lecture they do not like to be tested on that topic. They prefer to learn information that is factual and are usually patient and willing to do hands on work.

Sensing learners:

1. Prefer to learn the facts and use well known methods to solve problems;
2. Don’t like being tested on topics that haven't been covered;
3. Patient.

Intuitive

Intuitive are different to sensing learners as they prefer to learn by finding different ways to solve something rather than following older, more established methods. As they are more open to learning new methods, they are good at grasping new concepts and their works is ussually more innovative than others.

Intuitive learners:

1. Prefer to learn by finding different ways to solve something;
2. Good at grasping new concepts;
3. Work is innovative.

Visual

Visual learners prefer to learn by seeing things. They prefer to see information in the form of diagrams, charts, pictures and through demonstrations instead of just reading information off a page or listening to constant talking.

Visual learners:

1. Prefer to learn through the use of diagrams, charts, pictures and demonstrations;

Verbal

Verbal learners, unlike visual learners, prefer to learn by listening to someone speak. This is because they can grasp a concept better if they listen to someone as they are good at understanding and memorising facts. As they prefer listening to someone speak, verbal learners prefer to have a teacher or lecturer that talks more and uses less activities.

Verbal learners:

1. Prefer to learn by listen to someone speak. E.g. lectures.

Sequential

Sequential learners prefer it if a teacher or leacturer tells them step by step how to carry out a task. E.g. If they were learning how to transfer files from a computer to an external hard drive they would like the instructions to be like: 1. insert device; 2. make sure there is enough space on the device; 3. copy the files you want to transfer etc.

Sequential learners:

1. Understand how to do something better if it is shown in steps;

Global

Global learners prefer to read between the lines and see different ways of solving a task. Due to this, global learners tend to be faster at solving problems but may find it hard to explain how they solved it as they did not use the traditional methods.

Global learners:

1. Prefer to learn through group discussions;
2. Read between the lines and see many different options.

Preferred Learning Style

According to an online questionnaire that I completed, I am a multi-modal learner. This means that I can learn using a variety of styles and that one learning style doesn’t stand out from the others. Being multi-modal means that you could have 2 strong preferences such as Visual and Kinesthetic or Read/Write and Kinesthetic or even 3 preferences, such as Visual, Kinesthetic and Read/Write. About 60% of people are multi-modal learners.

There are a number of different types of learning styles. These are visual, kinesthetic, audio and multi-modal. 

To find out what learning style best suits you, click on the link below and take the test.

http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp

There are a number of advantages of knowing what my learning style is. The first advantage of knowing my learning style would be that I will be able to maximize my learning potential. If I maximize my learning potential, I will get better grades as I will remember what was taught and be able to apply this to the task at hand.

The next advantage of me knowing my learning style is not related to school but to work. If I know how I learn best, I will be able to find a job which suits me the best and I will be able to work more effectively.

I will be able to target subjects that I find difficult. I may have found certain subjects difficult as I was not using the learning style which suits me best. As I now know my learning style, I can go back to these subjects and see if I find them easier to do using my specific learning style.

The final advantage of me knowing my learning style is that I can try to improve my weaker learning styles. As I now know that I am a multi-modal learner, I can try to improve my weaker learning styles. By doing this I will be able to learn more things in different ways.