The Application of Learning Style Theory in Higher Education Teaching - The Diigo Meta page

• 23 Oct 12
  

  Meike Bücker

  Lernmodell

• 29 Jun 11
  

  Diane Gusa

  education Intelligence Multiple learningTheory Learning Styles

  • The application of learning style theory in higher education teaching

  •   A learning style is:  

    "A complexus of related characteristics in which the whole is greater   than its parts. Learning style is a gestalt combining internal and external   operations derived from the individual's neurobiology, personality and development,   and reflected in learner behaviour" (Keefe & Ferrell 1990, p. 16).
  • general tendency towards a particular   learning approach displayed by an individual.
  • Riding &   Cheema (1991), from an extensive review of the literature, conclude there are   only two principal styles "families", the holist-analytic, and the   verbaliser-imager. These two broad groupings relate to the type of cognitive   activities normally ascribed to the two hemispheres of the brain. Curry (1983)   suggests there are three different perspectives on styles: those relating to   a preference for a particular instructional approach, those relating to the   individual's intellectual approach to assimilating information independently   of the environment, and those relating to the individual's intellectual approach   to assimilating information with the environment.
  • Dunn, Deckinger, Withers & Katzenstein (1990),   who found that teaching students based on their diagnosed learning style did   significantly increase their achievement level (see also Napolitano 1986).
  • Research indicates learning   style is not a stable construct, so one may alter instructional style to meet   a learning style that will itself change, requiring a further change in instructional   strategy.
  • Researchers have failed to address the question of how it is possible to achieve   a tailoring of instructional approaches on anything other than an individual   level.
  • What may be possible is to promote an educational environment developed for   flexibility at the individual student level.
  • What is required is a stimulus-stimulus   approach, where the student and the lecturer are actively involved in both learning   and the mechanics of the learning process, the aim being to facilitate learner   empowerment by developing in students a critical awareness of material studied   and the delivery and structure of the material. Learners can then tailor flexible   education strategies to their requirements to optimise the quality of the learning   experience.
  • In an educational   setting, a self-directed learner no longer operates as a passive receiver of   information, but takes responsibility for the achievement, and ultimately setting,   of learning outcomes. In essence, the traditional lecturer-student divide becomes   increasingly blurred, as the learner begins to pro-actively structure the programme   to match their own learning attributes.
  • his ability of an individual to actively select from a personal style or skills   portfolio, is part of what can be termed self-directed learning
  • lecturer's role
  • facilitator, and finally to that   of a resource to be tapped
  • Under such an approach, higher education ceases to be simply something   that is done to people, and becomes a platform from which individuals can go   on to, in effect, educate themselves
  • This approach will tend to create learned helplessness in people
  • "causer of learning".
  • Higher education   should be concerned with not only enhancing learning in a specific situation,   but should also constitute a catalyst for further self-initiated development   of the individual, above and beyond the contents and aims of a particular course.   T
  • The lecturer must avoid removing traditional barriers to self-direction, such   as a rigid programme structure, only to erect new barriers through the use of   prescriptive self-direction strategies imposed on the student.
  • allow the individual the freedom to define   and devise learning strategies, and to make mistakes. T
  • The role of the lecturer must be essentially non-interventionist,   unless the student seeks guidance
  • as people may still not choose   to direct their own learning due to: a lack of belief in their own ability,   a failure by them to recognise that self-direction is needed or preferable,   the setting of an inappropriate learning goal(s) that fails to act as a motivator,   and previous learning and education experiences.
  • That educational system primarily tends to concentrate   on didactic approaches that often view learning as being of secondary importance   to memory, where information acquisition and subsequent information regurgitation   predominate.
  • This will require that the lecturer breaks down barriers to learning and self-direction   that may be present. This covers: those barriers created by the student during   the course (wrong choice of learning approach, poor motivation, lack of confidence),   those barriers that the course itself may indirectly create (lack of flexibility,   lack of direction and guidance, poor structure), and those barriers that the   student brings to the course (reason for attending the course, poor learning   skills, previous bad learning experiences).
  • In the initial stages of a programme, the lecturer will   need to ensure the existence of an appropriate control structure, as students   undergo the transition from being other-directed in their learning by external   influences, to being self-directed.
  • caffold structure
  • allows students to progressively take control of their   learning,
  • but that also offers sufficient guidance and direction in the early   stages to prevent individuals from becoming lost.
  • clearly communicated and understood aims and objectives for the students   at regular intervals.

  26 more annotations...

• 28 Mar 11
  

  Jennifer Lim

  teaching learning higher education

  • Students will develop a way or style of learning,   and refine that style in response to three groups of factors: unconscious personal   interventions by the individual, conscious interventions by the learner themselves,   and interventions by some other external agent.
  • learning style has a practical   application, particularly in education and training
  • Students tend to enter   a learning situation with a style of learning already developed. If they meet   a learning environment at variance with that style, then it is likely the student   will reject the learning environment (Kolb, 1976).
  • "The aim is to make the student self-renewing and self-directed; to focus   on integrative development where the person is highly developed in each of the   four learning modes; active, reflective, abstract and concrete. Here, the student   is taught to experience the tension and conflict among these orientations, for   it is from these tensions that creativity springs"
  • "While mismatching is appropriate for developmental reasons, students   have more positive attitudes towards school and achieve more knowledge and skills   when taught, counselled or advised through their natural or primary style rather   than a style that is secondary or undeveloped, particularly when adjusting to   a novel and new situation that creates stress such as beginning experiences   in higher education" (p. 253).
  • teaching students based on their diagnosed learning style did   significantly increase their achievement level
  • Messick (1984) and Streufert & Nogami (1989) found evidence learners adapt   their learning style based on perceptions of the requirements of a learning   task.
  • promote an educational environment developed for   flexibility at the individual student level
  • A proficient learner is not someone who demonstrates   capability within a narrow band of activities, as defined by a particular learning   style, but rather someone who demonstrates the ability to select an appropriate   learning style from a range, according to the demands of the situation and their   own learning capability.
  • In an educational   setting, a self-directed learner no longer operates as a passive receiver of   information, but takes responsibility for the achievement, and ultimately setting,   of learning outcomes.
  • learner becomes capable of not only identifying what resources   and skills are needed to achieve objectives, but also how to acquire those resources   and skills
  • fundamental skills such as how   individuals learn, how to improve that process, and how to achieve self-directed   learners
  • what motivates individuals to self-direct their   learning, what are the processes through which individuals become self-aware,   what are the key processes that already self-directing individuals use to attain   goals, and what is the effect of the social and physical environment on learning
  • providing   a scaffold structure that allows students to progressively take control of their   learning, but that also offers sufficient guidance and direction in the early   stages to prevent individuals from becoming lost

  12 more annotations...

• 24 Jun 08
  

  wayne anderson

  Teaching & Learning Learning Styles learning theory education Education Strategies learningTheory

• 08 Jun 08
  

  In considering learning and how to improve student learning, one needs to understand the way(s) in which an individual learns...

  Multiple Intelligence

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