How do you like to learn? Do you prefer a visual, aural, read/write or a kinesthetic approach?
I’ve been working in academia for several years now and that’s a question that I keep coming back to explore. This week during a professional development seminar we discussed the importance of analysing our learning preferences so that we can begin to examine how we learn and more importantly how that transfers to our teaching styles.
Perhaps not surprisingly there’s a website devoted to this – VARK (no relationship to Graham Kennedy’s crow call) is an online (http://www.vark-learn.com) questionnaire that provides users with a profile of their learning preferences. You’re presented with a list of questions and asked to choose the answer which best explains your preference. Here’s a sample of the questions:
You are helping someone who wants to go to your airport, town centre or railway station. You would:
1. write down the directions.
2. tell her the directions.
3. draw, or give her a map.
4. go with her.
Do you prefer a teacher or a presenter who uses:
1. question and answer, talk, group discussion, or guest speakers.
2. diagrams, charts or graphs.
3. handouts, books, or readings.
4. demonstrations, models or practical sessions.
You have to make an important speech at a conference or special occasion. You would:
1. make diagrams or get graphs to help explain things.
2. gather many examples and stories to make the talk real and practical.
3. write out your speech and learn from reading it over several times.
4. write a few key words and practice saying your speech over and over.
How do you rate? My scores were:
• Visual: 3
• Aural: 4
• Read/Write: 2
• Kinesthetic: 8
A Wikipedia (we’re allowed to use it for our ICT class!) search defines kinesthetic learning as “something which takes place by the student actually carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration.”
Reflecting on my teaching style, I think I do employ a kinesthetic learning approach –
my classes incorporate lots of case studies, group work, debates, guest speakers, field trips (last year we went to Google) and practical assessments such as client based projects and tasks. For example, I teach a unit titled Public Relations Writing in which, after listening to my lectures about writing, students actually practice writing every week (media releases, blogs, speeches, features etc.). They moan and grumble at having to churn out written pieces each class but I (and hopefully they) have no doubt that they’ll be better practitioners for it in the long run.
A doing approach to learning is best practice (no pun intended) and should be incorporated in curriculum design.