Learning Styles online compared with classroom
I don't understand how Bergquist & Phillips compare their learning styles which seem more like personality traits to Visual, Auditory and Kinestetics.
Anthony:
Classifying learning styles as personality traits could, in my opinion, just be a difference in the use of terms. One can reasonably argue that learning styles are driven by inherent or acquired personality traits.
Please elaborate on the comparison to "Visual, Auditory, and Kinestetics"
Satrohan
My guess--and I've not had education courses per se--is that we have a matrix here. Learning styles along one axis, and personality traits (which are really ways of learning) along another. So an independent learner may do best by seeing (visual), hearing (auditory), or doing (kinestetic) class experiences. Probably it is multidimensional, with cultural and other factors also involved, as I note below.
There are some interesting questions here. In an online class a visual learner would probably do better than the other types you mention--although as a way of learning some auditory input is possible too. This whole approach by reading probably favors left brain learning, although the interaction of a group could help socialization and thus learning that way too. (Would a loner do better communicating by computer rather than in a physical setting? Perhaps. There is some ancedotal evidence but has anyone rigorously examined this?)
But does reading make sense in a partially picture-driven environment like the Internet? Maybe it is too new to know, but learning here is certainly different than sit down and face the teacher classroom.
Culturally I see some interersting issues. For example, when my wife taught accounting the Somali women were much better students in her class than in the one run by a man. They didn't like to speak up to him. So would being online help break down such barriers? Again, these are questions that are good for a PhD study, at least!
Richard:
I believe you have several PhD theses here. I would be particularly interested in the results of the cultural studies. While I have not seen any studies on the "Loner" communicating better through electronic means, I suspect they would.
Satrohan
I agree Satrohan, If they want to make the grade they will participate. Also some students can communicate easier on-line than in person.
Becky
I know through personal experience that I am more assertive and confident using online communication.
I believe that shy students can use online learning as an tool to develop personally as well as professionally. The knowledge that they will never meet their classmates or instructor face to face can be perceived as security, therefore building self-confidence, as well as providing an opportunity to practice more assertive behaviors.
Dee:
This could very well be true for many shy students. I also believe it does not apply to many shy students. It is my opinion that "shyness" is a behaviorial trait that may or may not be modifiable, depending on its roots. So is procrastination. Procrastinators will procrastinate whether they are online or in a traditional classroom; and learning is not the only situation in which they will procrastinate. They procrastinate in other aspects of their lives.
Satrohan
You raised some very good points and I really would like to see more research on the subject. I do think that the types of learners identified by visual, auditory and kinestetic may or may not relate to the personality types. For example, it may be that a shy person would be a visual lerner.
I agree...(the Bergquist Phillips, 1975) Handbook uses the term learning styles very loosely. In fact, they do not appear to fit the generally accepted definition of learning styles. That said, the VAK learning styles are really learning modalities and have very little, if any, effect on learning outcomes. If this module is to address learning styles, they at least need to reference the most comprehensive study on learning styles ever undertaken: Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., & Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning. Learning Skills and Research Centre, London. Retrieved from http://www.leerbeleving.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/learning-styles.pdf
To that end, this article, Matching Teaching Style to Learning Style May Not Help Students (http://chronicle.com/article/Matching-Teaching-Style-to/49497)should be cited as well and also include the research from the study cited in the Chronicle article: Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Retrieved from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/PSPI_9_3.pdf
