Learning Styles and their application to StudyNet

1. Learning Styles and their application to StudyNet LTI lunchtime seminar series Janet Webber – Physiotherapy/LTI Monday 15th June

2. Aims for this session • To give an overview of learning styles and definitions from the simple to the more complex • Briefly present research results obtained as part of MA • Provide some food for thought

3. Overview of Learning Styles • Origins in the psychology literature in the 1950’s • Based on theory that the way that people approach a learning situation affects how much they benefit/their performance/results etc • i.e. performance is not just related to intelligence • Diverse spread of use and therefore literature • business to education • across the spectrum of ages and topic areas • academically and commercially • many claims and counter claims made

4. Overview of Learning Styles • Large variety of terminology: • Cognitive Style • Learning Style • Learning Strategies and Learning/Instructional Preferences • I.e. a blend of personality and application to external environment • Similar to nature/nurture debate • Measured with Learning Style Questionnaires/Inventories Curry’s Onion

5. Cognitive Style • This is concerned with the person’s habitual psychological processes of perception, thinking, memory and learning • Relatively fixed in personality • Inner layer of the Curry’s onion. E.g. • Riding’s Cognitive Style Analysis • Holist/Analyst and Verbaliser/Imager • Allinson and Hayes Cognitive Style Index 1996 • Intuition/Analysis

6. Learning Style • Applicationof a person’s cognitive style to a learning situation • Again quite fixed but can be influenced by external factors • E.g. Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory • Uses his learning cycle • Concrete Experience (CE)///Abstract Conceptualisation (AC) [prehension] • Reflective Observation (RO)///Active Experimentation (AE) [processing] • And analyses • which you prefer, • how well you perform at each level and • how you approach each level • And gives you an orientation • Accommodator/Diverger/Assimilator/Converger

7. Learning Strategies and Learning/Instructional Preference • Used to describe a person’s preferences for one type of learning environment over another and the way in which they choose /prefer to interact with different learning tasks in the environment • Also considers the social preferences in the context of learning • This is the Outer layer of the onion! E.g. • VARK • Honey and Mumford • All these can be assessed with questionnaires/inventories etc

8. CAPITALS – Kolb’s LSI categories,RED – Kolb’s learning cycleItalics– Honey and Mumford‘s categories- After Sadler-Smith 2001 CE (feeling/experiencing) AC (thinking) May 09

9. Learning Styles and Education • Student’s learning style is allied to their performance in different learning environments • Perception of the learning materials and format of presentation is influenced by their style/preference • Matching the style of teaching to that of the learners improves student performance • Mismatching the teaching style to that of the students assists their ability to adapt to new situations • Increasing students’ awareness of their learning style/preference and then providing them with strategies to learn, in both their favoured and non-favoured environments, enhances teaching and learning

10. Learning Styles and Education • Students learning style vs. Educators learning styles • Awareness is important • Matching • Mismatching • E.g. • Fleming and his VARK • Kolb • Honey and Mumford • All advocates of matching and mismatching

11. Learning Style Questionnaire/Inventory • Coffield at al 2004 • 71 questionnaires were found and 13 questionnaires/inventories examined in detail: for internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity and predictive validity! • Only one scored four out of four - • Allinson and Hayes Cognitive Style Index 1996 Useful overviews: • Rayner (2007) article counters this quite well, read the two together and you will have a good picture of all the arguments ALSO • Evans & Sadler-Smith (2006) review of the 10th Annual Learning Styles Information Network Conference gives a good overview of the current thinking on Learning Styles

12. Onto my study and VARK • A learning style preference • Outer layer of the onion

13. VARK - Neil Flemingwww.vark-learn.com • Based on NLP, that we receive information via the visual, aural and kinaesthetic route • Visual • Seeing • Aural • Listening • Read/(write) • The written word • Kinaesthetic • Experience and practice • Multimodal • A mixture of some or all of the above

14. VARK categories and recommended strategies adapted from Fleming 2001 • Visual (V): • like information to be that is presented as charts, graphs and flow charts. • especially with arrows, circles etc that depicts facts that could have been presented in words. • Draw flow diagrams (mind maps) of information that you need to understand and learn

15. VARK categories and recommended strategies – adapted from Fleming 2001 • Aural / Auditory (A): • like information to be presented in the spoken word, i.e. that is "heard." • learn best from lectures, tutorials, tapes, group discussion, speaking, web chat, talking things through. • Use discussion with other students to consolidate learning • Make tapes of summarised notes (Podcasting?)

16. VARK categories and recommended strategies – adapted from Fleming 2001 • Read/write (R): • like to read about new information in all the various forms, lecture notes, books, articles , web pages etc. • Make lecture notes into lists • Use the lecture notes • Use the Discussion sites on line ask questions, discuss topics with other students

17. VARK categories and recommended strategies – adapted from Fleming 2001 • Kinesthetic (K): • learn best by doing the task – whether it is simulated or real   • Maximise the use of clinical/practical experience • Use case studies/remember real life scenarios to make learning real • Practice techniques to consolidate the theory. • Use role play

18. From VARK website

19. My study • The aims of the study were: • to investigate students’ frequency of access (‘Use’) and ‘Perception of usefulness’ of a Managed Learning Environment (StudyNet) • to observe for a potential relationship between these and both the students’ learning style and their computer confidence.

20. Method • Self reporting questionnaire on the student’s • use and perception of usefulness of various tools on StudyNet at the time • VARK category • some open questions • computer confidence analysis • 70% - (62% actual) return rate

21. Sample

22. VARK categories

23. Results –significance (with care!) • Visual learners(who prefer diagrammatic representation of information) using StudyNet the most • Aural learners(who prefer the spoken word) using StudyNet the least • The Kinaesthetic learners were the second highest ‘Users’

24. Other results • Of the tools analysed • the Lecture Notes were the most frequently accessed, • the active use of the Discussion sites, he least used. • Discussion sites were ‘Viewed’ more frequently than they were actively used and • are the most preferred tool of the Aural learners. • More Kinaesthetic learners in the sample than the general population (to be expected?) • Computer Confidence score went down with increasing age

25. Computer confidence and gender Females ‘Used’ StudyNet more, and ‘Perceived’ it to be more useful than their male colleagues but had a lower self-reported Computer Confidence

26. Computer confidence and age

27. From open questions: • They liked StudyNet but: • felt it was replacing the personal contact with lecturers • There were to be expected technical difficulties reported • Slowness of staff to respond/upload material was reported • ? Perceived/actual

28. Future • Your thoughts • Others experience of other learning styles? • Your VARK category and consider? • Is it true for you • Can you use it • Personally • Relevance to your learning and teaching practice

29. Positives • There is some evidence for many of the claims • Usefulness of peoples awareness of: • Their own learning style • Others learning preferences and hence why some staff/students appear not to respond well to certain teaching methods • Strategies to be used

30. Aims for this session • To give an overview of learning styles and definitions from the simple to the more complex • Briefly present research results obtained as part of MA • Provide some food for thought

31. References Allinson, C.W. & Hayes, J. (1996).The Cognitive Style Index: a measure of intuition-analysis of organizational research. Journal of Management Studies. 33 (1), 119-135. Cassidy, S. (2004). Learning theory: an overview of styles, models and measures. Educational Psychology 24 (4), 419-444. Coffield F, Moseley D, Hall E and Ecclestone (2004a). ‘Learning Styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning. A systematic and critical review’. Learning and skills research centre. www.LSRC.ac.uk. Accessed 6/01/05 Coffield F, Moseley D, Hall E and Ecclestone (2004b). ‘Should we be using learning styles? What research has to say about practice’. Learning and skills research centre. www.LSRC.ac.uk. Accessed 6/01/05 Evans C, & Sadler-Smith E. (2006) ‘Learning styles in education and training: problems, politicisation and potential’ Education and training. 48 2/3. 77-83 Rayner S. (2007). ‘A teaching elixir, learning chimera or just fool’s gold? Do leaning styles matter?’ Support for Learning. 22 1, 24-30

32. Percentage of each ‘User’ group per VARK category (p<0.043)

33. Some trends