Throwning down the gauntlet
When I was in law school, no one ever asked me (or cared) what kind of learner I am. Ditto for when I was getting my Ph.D. Yet somehow I got through both law school and my clinical psychology program. I never had an employer ask me what kind of learner I am still I have been gainfully employed for the last 20 years. In 20 years of teaching both full and part-time I have never asked my students what kind of learners they are and yet somehow I was nominated for "Teacher of the Year" by my university and I consistently rated in the top 5% of all professors based on student evaluations.
I love what I do. I know the subject matter that I teach. I am passionate about what I do and I communicate that passion to my students. I will argue that plus the experiences I had with numerous teachers, professors and mentors over the many years I was in school taught me to be a good teacher. I will also argue that knowing your students "learning styles" and trying to adapt your teaching to that paradigm is no substitute for teaching what you know with passion, energy and the joy of sharing. I will further argue that there is no evidence that using the learning styles approach makes for a more effective teacher in a higher education setting. Finally, the impracticality of that approach can be demonstrated by the fact that no law school, medical school or practical Ph.D. program uses the learning styles method. The only time I have ever heard of it being applied is in Ed.D. programs and don't get me started on Ed.D. degrees.
Any comments?
Ditto to that. I am a teacher of massage and a student of acupuncture, formerly a K-8 teacher for 10 years. I think my Traditional Chinese Medicine instructors would have NO idea about what to do with being told to adjust to our learning styles. As _adult_ students we just suck it up and LEARN THE MATERIAL and it is a crazy amount of memorization. As adults, we take responsibility for forming study groups, creating our own guides and tools. So yes, it is important to understand learning styles and to vary teaching techniques, but even with massage, we have to triage information, time, and attention. I love classroom discussions, but they can and do put us behind schedule.
Very interesting perspective, and good reminder to stay focused on knowing, loving, and conveying the content you teach. As a new educator I am interested in the theory of learning styles. Yet learning styles method is better knowledge for students to appreciate. As a learner it is helpful to know what style is best individually to absorb new information, organize it, apply it, etc. It should help an adult learner's study method more than my lecture presentation. As you say, the vast majority of Law, Grad, or Ph.D. programs are not going to bend their programs to the learner, but adult learners should know their own learning style and apply that to their studying personally.
I don’t quite understand the impassioned debate about learning styles theory or meshing hypothesis other than to float your academic boat. Though there is no hard scientific evidence that this 40 year old approach has substantive impact on the learner, seems to me, as a fellow educator, that the method is simply another tool to facilitate the student/instructor relationship and is not meant to be a substitution for loving or commanding your subject and content. Would we still be debating this idea 40 years later if there was no merit to it? Is it a challenge for you to repackage content for the distinct learning capacities of your paying customers? Are you so sure that your past educators did not deftly adapt to your learning style and that is why they had a great impact on you or that you yourself have not found success as an educator because you do this intrinsically? Perhaps you would prefer that the students were all the same; Orwellian automatons, not requiring any unique approaches for them as individuals. Seems to me you just want to protect your authority, either that or, in the context of academia, you take yourself way too seriously.
I do have to agree that in retrospect of both of the times that I went for my degrees, my professors or Instructors taught the material required with their own personal twist but weren't too concerned with how best I learn as a student. My only concern with trying to figure out the learning styles of all of my students is whether I am coddling them. As an Instructor, it has been an eye opening experience into higher education since I came through. I can vividly remember one of my core professors bluntly saying one day that she was there to teach and show us the skills we needed, but as far as personal issues or why we could or couldn't make it to class were of no concern to her. We either wanted to be in that class or not. I think, as both students and Instructors, we all have to be willing to adapt to changing times but not at the expense of no responsibility.
My classes are small enough where I feel I can be flexible with individual students on getting my material across (I teach massage). Often, a student will tell me, for instance, that they are "visual" learners. Taking a lot of notes doesn't do them much good. I make it a point then, to make sure they see what I'm doing and never hesitate to repeat demonstrations. I make it clear to them that I don't mind repeatedly working with them one-on-one. This is harder to do when I have larger groups, but It's "do-able" most of the time.
In addition, I've had sightless students and students whose English is poor. A teacher has no choice but to adapt to help these these students be successful.
I submit that learning styles are moot when the student already possesses the ability to grasp the information. Those students are already cognizant of their respective learning styles and are able to make their necessary adjustments so as to achieve success; irrespective of how the information is presented.
I further submit that responsiveness to different learning styles can assist in restructuring your presentations to accommodate variations in reception.
All students are not adept scholars. Some have limited vocabularies. Some are more attuned to the written word than the verbal. Some have attention deficits. Some do not know how to take notes. Some lack the ability to self edit, etc. For these students, emanating passion and the joy of sharing will result of a positive experience, but not in the acquisition of knowledge.
For example, you can teach a math class with energy and passion but if you forget that your students learn at different rates for a variety of reasons, a uniform level of learning will not take place. Do all of your students receive the same grade? Do they all receive passing grades?
My employer also never inquired about my learning style. As an instructor and as a work supervisor, I find that taking the time to consider my students and subordinates as individuals and make assessments regarding their learning styles is rewarding to them and to me. My boss did not inquire, but I do.
Hopefully, my students and subordinates will someday be in the position to do the same. It brings great satisfaction to support a poor student into becoming a scholar.
Walter Clement
A reply to Barham and Clement. Mr. Barham wrote: "Are you so sure that your past educators did not deftly adapt to your learning style and that is why they had a great impact on you or that you yourself have not found success as an educator because you do this intrinsically?" He raised an interesting point but I think that the opposite is true; I learned how to adapt to my teacher's styles and learn from them instead of the other way around.
He also stated: “Perhaps you would prefer that the students were all the same; Orwellian automatons, not requiring any unique approaches for them as individuals. Seems to me you just want to protect your authority, either that or, in the context of academia, you take yourself way too seriously.” To quibble, “Orwellian automations” should read “Orwellian automata” (the plural of automaton, although Orwell never used automata in this works) and would more accurately describe some professors of mine instead of any of my students. I recognize that my students are individuals and that they have the individual responsibility of learning the material I provide; I have the responsibility to know the material, provide it to them in an interesting fashion and motive them to learn it. I do take every thing I do seriously although I also try to use humor in the classroom. As for “protecting my authority” I do need to protect my classroom from well-meaning interlopers spouting the latest academic fad who think that they know how to do my job better than I do without having the proof to back it up.
Mr. Clement also made some interesting points. He stated: "All students are not adept scholars. Some have limited vocabularies. Some are more attuned to the written word than the verbal. Some have attention deficits. Some do not know how to take notes. Some lack the ability to self edit, etc. For these students, emanating passion and the joy of sharing will result of a positive experience, but not in the acquisition of knowledge.”
First, it is my job to provide knowledge but my students’ responsibility to acquire it; you can’t force people to learn. Second, providing a “positive experience” in a classroom facilitates learning by motivating students to be interested in the subject matter, not to mention motivating them to attend class.
Later, he states: “…Do all of your students receive the same grade? Do they all receive passing grades?”
God, I hope not. Talent is not distributed evenly and students should get the grades they earn. Not all should pass because not all will be deserving of a passing grade, period. There seems to be a prominent misconception that we are in the business of saving inferior students from themselves; we are not, although if you want to make that your job, more power to you. The reality is that students need to be responsible for their own success…or failure.
It is true, today there is so much more emphasis on the "Learning Styles" of students, when before, the only people who ever even heard that term were in Education Methodology classes. However, IF you are a passionate and knowledgeable teacher, then you probably don't need to change your style to fit anyone, as you're already teaching so everyone can understand the material being taught.......that's what passionate teachers have as one of their strengths!!!
In response to this topic I would say that research is somewhat mixed on the value of learning styles for the average learner, however I have spoked with professionals that can clearly identify the style of learning used through their entire educational experience. This would seem to suggest that there is a natural tendancy to use one or the other, though I doubt these individuals were as dependent on the teacher or instructor in the learning process as some would suggest.
Because, before I arrived, there were a lot of passing students that could not pass their national certification, I had to take a hard look at what was going on. In polling and having conversations with students, they have repeatedly said that lectures are too long and boring. I learned from these education courses that interacting, respecting, and including students is a best practice. In looking harder, and considering that learning styles can make a difference in a student acquiring the intended information, I decided to poll a class with the how you would assemble a toy. I did get varied responses. I am not the seasoned teacher that you are. I'm brand new. But without feedback, how can I be sure that the students are getting what they need, and not hating being in the classroom. I would love to think that what I'm saying and demonstrating on a whiteboard is exciting and interesting because I am so excited to tell them about it. But I won't know that for sure if I don't ask. I shy away from "in my day" because everything can be improved upon. I'm amazed today at how football players can sneak plays that were never thought of and avoid tackles that would have been a given.
I agree that great teachers have strong intuition about what makes the material interesting to students. Their passion, their charm, and the subject matter they deliver have to work together to reach any student.
I think that aiming instruction toward varied learning styles can do two things: First, the obvious business of making the material accessible to people with a variety of learning modes does make sense, at least to some educators. Second, just going through changes in the approach, though we may think of ot as "adapting to different learning styles," simply makes our instruction varied and interesting. Change it up a bit, and people may wake up, renew focus, and be freshly engaged. -- Gary O. Ackerman
It helps me as a teacher to think about the different learning styles. I pay attention to how the students are learning with their facial expressions, their body language and by assesing what was presented. I took the active learning class here and found it very good. As much as we would like to think that our students should be just learning what is presented in the traditional way, it does not make it so. Teaching at night and teaching in a private collage both present their own challenges. I am forced to bring information to the students in ways they can learn it. Working with the different learning styles is just one more way of engaging students in this venu.
I, too, am a massage therapy instructor. As an instructor, I don't have to worry too much about individual learning styles. Where the problem lies is with the struggling student. Even if a student is passionate about their chosen field they may not do well. Identifying their learning style and showing them how to study for themselves has been vastly effective.
I have come across several students who felt they were "stupid" because they didn't understand how to they learned. Once I help them identify their style it is up to them to progress. The responsibility is still in their hands.
Massage therapy is my passion so it isn't hard to convey that excitement to the classroom. Students follow your lead. When you are passionate about your subject, you tend to explain yourself in many different ways and styles. You want to get your point across. Thus, a passionate instructor tends to use a variety of styles. Also, a passionate instructor tends to be happy and that carries over to the class. People learn better when they are happy. It may be a simple statement, but it is the truth.
Hi, William and others, I too have never been asked what kind of learner I am. I have worked on Wall Street for 20 years, then in academia for 10 years...even in my doctoral program that I have been in for the past 3 years....no one ever discussed learning styles with me. I like to tell stories and relate the stories to the subject matter in my finance classes. I feel that when I was studying, the real life examples were the lessons I remembered vividly.
