Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic Learners
it has occurred to me that On line Learning is particularly effective for those individuals who are visual learners but less effective for those individuals who are auditory and especially kinesthetic learners. Is this true? If so, what strategies can be developed to help kinesthetic learners who learn more from a hands on approach to learning?
Todd:
Please share with me the foundations upon which you have drawn these conclusions-----empirical research, etc.
A lot has been written about catering for diffeent learning styles. The challenge is how many of us have the time, money, and resources to create different versions of a course for the benefit of visual learners, auditory learners, kinesthetic learners etc.? We can theorize and publish as much as we want; when it comes to making practical decisions to implement a program under time and budgetary constraints, its definitely a different kettle of fish. I have never worked with an Institution that had the luxury to design and develop not even a single course to cater for different learning styles by poviding alternative versions. Remember: The number of Instructors for any such course is likely to increase, and that introduces a new set of concerns-----inter-scorer reliability, for example.
I have worked with Institutions which strive for a balance in the application of multimedia strategies in their courses. Then there are Institutions who are obligated to provide alternative vrsions of course materials for the learning disabled. Have worked with these also.
Satrohan
Thanks for your reply. Mostly from research as well as personal experience. Many of my colleagues also share these conclusions. I agree that it is generally too much to expect different versions of a course. However, I think it is reasonable for our faculty in preparing their classwork to use a mixture of models that cater to various types of learning styles.
Todd
Differences in Learning Types is a very important item to note. Online courses can be beneficial to all learners if the courses is "well constructed." Well constructed would be a program that caters to all adult learning styles. The student must have the opportunity to receive the same quality education on-line as they would in a traditional classroom setting.
Shawnte:
Please elaborate on what you mean by "well constructed" by giving us a description of an example of an online course that you consider to be "well constructed" to the point that it caters to all adult learning styles.
Question
What do you recommend we should do to ensure that the quality of education students receive online is the same as that they receive in a traditional classroom setting? Obviously, the learning environments are different; so are the delivery mechanisms.
I would define "well constructed" as a course that is robus in content.
To ensure that on-line students receive a quality education the requirements of an on-line instructor should not differ from that of a traditional instructor.The content of the class should be well rounded and lastly students should have access to necessary resources( student services, peer assistance, instructor support, ect)
Shawnte:
By this I understand that we must mak eour best efforts to promote online learning experiences that replicate as muchg as possible, the learning experiences in the tradiditonal classroom environment.
Satrohan
All excellent points posted thus far. This is an interesting topic indeed. I would like to offer a potentially simple yet potentially effective idea that doesn't require re-engineering anything in the course format. Speak to them in the language they understand ie: if you know a student is visual - respond with "I see that you..." If the student is auditory respond with " I hear your concern..." or if the student is kinesthetic then "I feel you are on to something there." To ferret out which student is what kind of learner an instructor could ask for a paragraph to be written and submitted by the students about themselves or an opinion on a related subject matter and the instructor could watch for word clues in their responses.
An excellent point of view. I will try to follow this. Thank you.
Pamela;
This is a novel and excellent suggestion, at least for me. Is this based on any empirical data or any theoretical constructs? Or are you the source?
Satrohan
This information came to me from the neurolinguistic portion of an Anthony Robbins Training program.
I believe that any well designed course will include teaching stratagies that cater to all learning styles. It shouldnt matter whether the course is online or in a traditional classroom setting. It is our jobs as instructors to be creative and make sure we provide a rich learning enviroment for all learning styles. With technological advances this should not be hard to accomplish.
Thanks, Alysha, you're right! Technological advances hav afforded us the resources in an online environment to offer course activities that are more hands-on for the tactile learners, more auditory for the listeners and more interactive for everyone. It takes us far beyond simply clicking and reading.
Jay
EL102 Guest Facilitator
You bring up some great points as to why writing is better taught online. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject Ray.
Todd, FYI...since the psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of the VAK instruments are so low, any results/conclusions drawn from them are suspect. Consequently, very little valid research has been conducted using them. In fact, the National Institutes of Health no longer provides grants for any research using the visual-verbalizer learning style assessment. Below are some research findings/studies:
“Verbalizer-visualizer measures failed to produce significant attribute treatment interactions (ATIs). There was not strong support for the hypothesis that verbal learners and visual learners should be given different kinds of multimedia instructionâ€. Massa, L.J., & Mayer, R., 2006. Testing the ATI hypothesis: Should multimedia instruction accommodate verbalizer-visualizer cognitive style? Science Direct.
"The findings of this [VAK] research adds to the existing body of discourse and consolidates the belief that learning styles as determined by self-assessment instruments do not necessarily improve performancesâ€. Effectiveness of Personalized Learning Paths on Students Learning Experiences in an e-Learning Environment, European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning (2013.
"Research reveals that most learning style instruments have such serious weaknesses (e.g. low reliability & poor validity) it is recommend their use in research and practice should be discontinued. Investigations of the properties of a variety of scales have revealed that even the most widely used are inadequate in this regard". Australian Journal of Education, Vol. 54, No. I, 2010, 5-17.
"Since self-report measures are used to determine learning styles, the adequacy of such self-reports for the assessment of learning styles is questionable". Kirschner, Paul A., & van Merrinboer, Jeroen J.G. ,2013. Do Learners Really Know Best? Urban Legends in Education. Educational Psychologist, 48:3, 169-183, DOI: 10.1080/00461520.2013.804395. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00461520.2013.804395.
