Learning Styles & Teaching Strategies Applications in Library & Information Literacy Instruction Michael P. Sauers, MLS Memorial Library, SUNY Cortland 10 January 2005

Learning styles What are the different learning styles? –Auditory –Visual –Kinesthetic & Tactile

Auditory learners… Sound out word Enjoy listening but are impatient to talk Forget faces but remember names Easily distracted by noises Prefer the phone Call the help desk

Visual learners… Try to see words Prefer not to talk but dont like to listen for too long Forget names but remember faces Easily distracted by movement Prefer face-to-face Seek out pictures and/or diagrams

Kinesthetic/Tactile learners… Write words down Use gestures and expressive movements Easily distracted by activity in the immediate area Remember what you did with another person Prefer to talk while doing an activity Will jump in and try something Keep trying over and over changing variables each time

Teaching Styles Concepts to consider Available teaching styles Which work the best?

Learner Confidence …people are, in general, overconfident. They overestimate their ability, and their level of knowledge, and their decision- making prowess. And people are more overconfident when facing difficult problems than when facing easy ones. James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds

Learner Confidence Contd It has been my experience that when it comes to computers there is a generational difference in the level of confidence. Those that did not grow up with computers tend to under estimate their skills as opposed to those that grew up with computers.

Paretos Rule Pareto's rule states that a small number of causes is responsible for a large percentage of the effect, in a ratio of about 20:80. As applied to computers and library resources, 80% of users take advantage only 20% of available features/resources.

Applying Paretos Principle An instructor needs to figure our what 20% is being used by the 80% and focus on imparting that information. This does not mean that the instructor should focus on that 20% to the exclusion of the other 80%.

Experiential Learning David Kolb, Case Western Reserve University Ideas are not fixed but are formed and reformed through experience. Bibliographic instruction must give the students the experience they need but also give them the ability to renew that experience. This can be done by focusing on process rather than outcomes. Bodi, Sonia. Teaching Effectiveness and Bibliographic Instruction: The Relevance of Learning Styles. College & Research Libraries, March 1990.

Auditory Lecture Discussion Works best for larger non-concrete concepts, theories, items where there is no right or wrong answer.

Visual Demonstration Works best for simpler tasks with not a lot of steps. Also works for more complicated procedures providing theyre broken down into smaller sets of steps.

Kinesthetic & Tactile Hands on Works best when dealing with technology.

Which works best? Unless you happen to have a group of students that all have the same learning style and youre teaching a topic that lends itself best to a single teaching style you need to find the right balance of all three in order to accommodate all of the students.