Learning Styles and their application to StudyNet LTI lunchtime seminar series Janet Webber – Physiotherapy/LTI Monday 15 th June 1

Aims for this session To give an overview of learning styles and definitions from the simple to the more complex Briefly present research results obtained as part of MA Provide some food for thought 2

Overview of Learning Styles Origins in the psychology literature in the 1950’s Based on theory that the way that people approach a learning situation affects how much they benefit/their performance/results etc –i.e. performance is not just related to intelligence Diverse spread of use and therefore literature –business to education across the spectrum of ages and topic areas –academically and commercially –many claims and counter claims made 3

Overview of Learning Styles Large variety of terminology: –Cognitive Style –Learning Style –Learning Strategies and Learning/Instructional Preferences I.e. a blend of personality and application to external environment –Similar to nature/nurture debate Measured with Learning Style Questionnaires/Inventories 4 Curry’s Onion

Cognitive Style This is concerned with the person’s habitual psychological processes of perception, thinking, memory and learning Relatively fixed in personality Inner layer of the Curry’s onion. E.g. –Riding’s Cognitive Style Analysis Holist/Analyst and Verbaliser/Imager –Allinson and Hayes Cognitive Style Index 1996 Intuition/Analysis 5

Learning Style Application of a person’s cognitive style to a learning situation Again quite fixed but can be influenced by external factors E.g. Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory –Uses his learning cycle Concrete Experience (CE)///Abstract Conceptualisation (AC) [prehension] Reflective Observation (RO)///Active Experimentation (AE) [processing] –And analyses which you prefer, how well you perform at each level and how you approach each level And gives you an orientation –Accommodator/Diverger/Assimilator/Converger 6

Learning Strategies and Learning/Instructional Preference Used to describe a person’s preferences for one type of learning environment over another and the way in which they choose /prefer to interact with different learning tasks in the environment –Also considers the social preferences in the context of learning This is the Outer layer of the onion! E.g. –VARK –Honey and Mumford All these can be assessed with questionnaires/inventories etc 7

May 098 CAPITALS – Kolb’s LSI categories,RED – Kolb’s learning cycle Italics – Honey and Mumford‘s categories - After Sadler-Smith 2001 CE (feeling/experiencing) ACCOMMODATOR Activist (Hands on) AE (Doing) DIVERGER Reflector (Look at problems from different perspectives) RO (watching and listening) CONVERGER Pragmatist (Find applications for ideas and theories) ASSIMILATOR Theorist (Can organise diverse pieces of information into organised thought) AC (thinking)

Learning Styles and Education Student’s learning style is allied to their performance in different learning environments Perception of the learning materials and format of presentation is influenced by their style/preference Matching the style of teaching to that of the learners improves student performance Mismatching the teaching style to that of the students assists their ability to adapt to new situations Increasing students’ awareness of their learning style/preference and then providing them with strategies to learn, in both their favoured and non-favoured environments, enhances teaching and learning 9

Learning Styles and Education Students learning style vs. Educators learning styles –Awareness is important –Matching –Mismatching E.g. –Fleming and his VARK –Kolb –Honey and Mumford –All advocates of matching and mismatching 10

Learning Style Questionnaire/Inventory Coffield at al 2004 –71 questionnaires were found and 13 questionnaires/inventories examined in detail: for internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity and predictive validity! Only one scored four out of four - –Allinson and Hayes Cognitive Style Index 1996 Useful overviews : Rayner (2007) article counters this quite well, read the two together and you will have a good picture of all the arguments ALSO Evans & Sadler-Smith (2006) review of the 10 th Annual Learning Styles Information Network Conference gives a good overview of the current thinking on Learning Styles 11

Onto my study and VARK A learning style preference Outer layer of the onion

VARK - Neil Fleming Based on NLP, that we receive information via the visual, aural and kinaesthetic route Visual –Seeing Aural –Listening Read/(write) –The written word Kinaesthetic –Experience and practice Multimodal –A mixture of some or all of the above 13

VARK categories and recommended strategies adapted from Fleming 2001 Visual (V): –like information to be that is presented as charts, graphs and flow charts. –especially with arrows, circles etc that depicts facts that could have been presented in words. Draw flow diagrams (mind maps) of information that you need to understand and learn 14

VARK categories and recommended strategies – adapted from Fleming 2001 Aural / Auditory (A): –like information to be presented in the spoken word, i.e. that is "heard." –learn best from lectures, tutorials, tapes, group discussion, speaking, web chat, talking things through. Use discussion with other students to consolidate learning Make tapes of summarised notes (Podcasting?) 15

VARK categories and recommended strategies – adapted from Fleming 2001 Read/write (R): –like to read about new information in all the various forms, lecture notes, books, articles, web pages etc. Make lecture notes into lists Use the lecture notes Use the Discussion sites on line ask questions, discuss topics with other students 16

VARK categories and recommended strategies – adapted from Fleming 2001 Kinesthetic (K): –learn best by doing the task – whether it is simulated or real Maximise the use of clinical/practical experience Use case studies/remember real life scenarios to make learning real Practice techniques to consolidate the theory. Use role play 17

From VARK website

My study The aims of the study were: –to investigate students’ frequency of access (‘Use’) and ‘Perception of usefulness’ of a Managed Learning Environment (StudyNet) –to observe for a potential relationship between these and both the students’ learning style and their computer confidence. 19

Method Self reporting questionnaire on the student’s –use and perception of usefulness of various tools on StudyNet at the time –VARK category –some open questions –computer confidence analysis 70% - (62% actual) return rate 20

Sample

VARK categories

Results –significance (with care!) Visual learners (who prefer diagrammatic representation of information) using StudyNet the most Aural learners (who prefer the spoken word) using StudyNet the least The Kinaesthetic learners were the second highest ‘Users’ 23

Other results Of the tools analysed –the Lecture Notes were the most frequently accessed, –the active use of the Discussion sites, he least used. Discussion sites were ‘Viewed’ more frequently than they were actively used and –are the most preferred tool of the Aural learners. More Kinaesthetic learners in the sample than the general population (to be expected?) Computer Confidence score went down with increasing age 24

Computer confidence and gender Females ‘Used’ StudyNet more, and ‘Perceived’ it to be more useful than their male colleagues but had a lower self- reported Computer Confidence

Computer confidence and age

From open questions: They liked StudyNet but: –felt it was replacing the personal contact with lecturers There were to be expected technical difficulties reported Slowness of staff to respond/upload material was reported –? Perceived/actual 27

Future Your thoughts Others experience of other learning styles? Your VARK category and consider? –Is it true for you –Can you use it Personally Relevance to your learning and teaching practice 28

Positives There is some evidence for many of the claims Usefulness of peoples awareness of: –Their own learning style –Others learning preferences and hence why some staff/students appear not to respond well to certain teaching methods –Strategies to be used 29

Aims for this session To give an overview of learning styles and definitions from the simple to the more complex Briefly present research results obtained as part of MA Provide some food for thought 30

References Allinson, C.W. & Hayes, J. (1996). The Cognitive Style Index: a measure of intuition-analysis of organizational research. Journal of Management Studies. 33 (1), Cassidy, S. (2004). Learning theory: an overview of styles, models and measures. Educational Psychology 24 (4), Coffield F, Moseley D, Hall E and Ecclestone (2004a). ‘Learning Styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning. A systematic and critical review’. Learning and skills research centre. Accessed 6/01/05www.LSRC.ac.uk Coffield F, Moseley D, Hall E and Ecclestone (2004b). ‘Should we be using learning styles? What research has to say about practice’. Learning and skills research centre. Accessed 6/01/05www.LSRC.ac.uk Evans C, & Sadler-Smith E. (2006) ‘Learning styles in education and training: problems, politicisation and potential’ Education and training. 48 2/ Rayner S. (2007). ‘A teaching elixir, learning chimera or just fool’s gold? Do leaning styles matter?’ Support for Learning. 22 1,

Percentage of each ‘User’ group per VARK category (p<0.043)

Some trends