My VARK questionnaire indicated I have a strong read/write preference and I would agree with this. I know that I have always found listening to speakers or lecturers challenging as I tend to quickly tune out (sorry Shannon!). If I have to listen I need to either walk or doodle. On the other hand I love to read. When I was studying externally I was very happy in the "good old days" when you got sent 2 kilograms of notes to read and I didn’t have to listen to anyone (nothing personal any ex-lecturers reading this!). So yes I do agree with my profile. I prefer the VARK questionnaire as it includes read/write as separate to visual. I do not learn visually however other surveys say I do because I am not kinaesthetic or auditory.
One of my big challenges as a lecturer is catering to other styles of learning, particularly auditory styles. I tend to not to want to deliver any information verbally as I switch off so quickly. Of course that has sometimes been an advantage as I never have wanted to deliver traditional teacher directed lectures.
It would be interesting to ask students to complete the survey in your first lecture/tutorial. This would be of help to them so they can gear their study to their preferred mode however it would also help the lecturer be aware of their student’s learning style. Of course in a large group situation it would be impossible to keep everyone happy so the best course would be for lecturers to use a variety of delivery styles. For example begin with a short “lecture”, break into groups to complete an activity about a set reading and then complete some kind of “doing” activity.
ICT has potential for successful delivery of learning content as the different learning styles can be catered for. For example if your students are completing a collaborative web quest there are opportunities for readers and writers to be in charge of looking up information, kinaesthetic learners can be clicking things to learn things, the internet is highly visual so that takes care of them and the aural learners can be talking about what they see and are learning.
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp
Thank you Rebekah. I agree that it would be useful to ask the students to complete the VARK questionnaire at their first lecture so that they become aware and therefore more responsible for their own learning. This exercise would even be useful with big groups - it throws the onus back onto them (Fleming & Mills, n.d.).
ReplyDeleteI was interested in your comment about using a WebQuest to cater to all styles of learning, ie. read/write, aural, visual, and kinaesthetic. I hadn't thought through, for myself, just how useful a WebQuest might be in this regard. I think that many 2.0 tools will be in the same category, ie. they will allow students with many learning style to participate actively.
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