What About Learning Styles?

"I'm a visual learner--no wonder I have such a difficult time with the readings. There aren't any pictures!" "I'm an auditory learner--no wonder I have such a difficult time with the readings!" "I work with my hands--no wonder I have such a difficult time with the readings!" Sometimes learning styles can be used as excuses for the difficulties we have in a particular class.

While research suggests that we do have preferred cognitive styles, one cognitive scientist, Daniel T. Willingham, writes that such preferred styles don't really help us when it comes to learning meaning. Willingham is professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, and he writes in Why Don't Students Like School? (Jossey-Bass, 2009) that "most of the time students need to remember what things mean, not what they sound like or look like." In fact, he says, students "are more alike than different in terms of how they think and learn."

We may be very different in our cognitive abilities (how well we think) but when it comes to styles (our preferred way of thinking) Willingham says the research is very mixed in terms of students with an auditory bias actually learning the meaning of something better if it's presented in spoken or audio form. Likewise, it doesn't seem to be the case that those who favor the visual actually learn meanings better if they have images or something else to see. (It may well be the case that if a test is about how something sounds--the quality of a sound--then the auditory learners might outperform the non-auditory learners; and if a test is about the colors in a picture, the visual learner might well outperform the non-visual learner in remembering the colors. But in many courses, like this one, what's being put to the test is whether we understand the meaning of concepts.)

Nevertheless, if a particular learning style helps us remember the meaning of a concept, that's good. But that doesn't mean we can only learn through that one style; we can take in meaning in many different ways. The key for this and other courses is to use our preferred learning style if it's helpful, but to practice using other styles if the instructor's presentation is not to our liking. Research seems to show that we are not "locked in" to any particular learning style (though we do prefer one or two over the others).

There are dozens of lists claiming to show human learning style, but they don't all agree. One simple list seems to capture some of the differences in our preferences, and it will be useful for us to use. The list is based on the work of management researcher William Herrmann and it's called the Brain Dominance Model (there's more about this in the Wikipedia entry of the same name).

Herrmann divides humans into four dominant areas of thinking styles:

A - Analytical Thinking

(facts, theories, data)

Key Words: logical, factual, critical, technical and quantitative.

Preferred Activities: collecting data, analysis, understanding how things work, judging ideas based on facts, criteria and logical reasoning.

B - Sequential Thinking

(application, experiential, hands-on learning)

Key Words: safekeeping, structured, organized, complexity or detailed, planned.

Preferred Activities: following directions, detail oriented work, step-by-step problem solving, organization and implementation.

C - Interpersonal Thinking

(personal, emotional, community)

Key Words: kinesthetic, emotional, spiritual, sensory, feeling.

Preferred Activities: listening to and expressing ideas, looking for personal meaning, sensory input, and group interaction.

D - Imaginative thinking

(innovative, creative, out-of-the- box thinker)

Key Words : Visual, holistic, intuitive, innovative, and conceptual.

Preferred Activities: Looking at the big picture, taking initiative, challenging assumptions, visuals, metaphoric thinking, creative problem solving, long term thinking.

Herrmann's research suggests that each area is represented by about 25% of the population. In this class, then, there are likely all four types represented.

Part of my job as an instructor is to present class materials "with a little something for everyone." Part of your job as a student is to challenge yourself to expand beyond one thinking style if that style is not helping you put meaning into your mind.

• In this class there is something for the A thinking style. We'll be looking at the criteria for evaluating Lerning Modules and making (tentative) judgments about whether a Learning Module achieves its purpose.
• There's something for B's as well. The various assignments (such as discussions and writing) require close attention to detail; developing a "sandbox" Learning Module will be "hands-on." You'll be developing the sample LM step-by-step.
• Though there is no group work as such in the course, C's can profit by the sharing that goes on in discussions, in the give-and-take as we wrestle with perhaps some new ideas about how best to teach online. Reading the posts of others can help clarify our own thinking, and responding to what others have written can deepen their own understanding. Some of the readings may be powerfully meaningful and touch the emotion deeply especially as we talk about some of the challenges faced by online instructors.
• There will be times when we'll need to look at the "big picture" and use creativity in fashioning a syllabus narrative. The D's should be right at home. Adapting to teaching online may challenge some of your assumptions and require "outside the box" thinking.

It's important to cultivate thinking strategies that enable A's to understand B's, C's and D's, and so on, and get meaning from projects not geared specificially to their own style. This goes back to being resourceful and creative in adapting one's preferred learning styles so one gets as much meaning as possible.

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