Cranton

...Considering the Learners

I think there are several points to be made here. First, the onus for learning does not rest solely with the instructor or the learner. Everyone is correct that there are many styles of learning and it is important to be aware of as many as possible. I don’t think that teaching to an “ideal” is the way to go. And you are right in that you can’t teach to each individual’s style of learning—for that they may as well hire a tutor (and even then, if the tutor isn’t aware of learning styles then the student is still not being reached). Gross Davis (1993) states ‘no one style of learning has been shown to be better than any other and no single style leads to better learning”.Again, Gross Davis says “an understanding of learning styles and orientations may enhance your teaching effectiveness: students may be more satisfied and more productive if they are studying with methods compatible with their styles”. This enables them both to take advantage of every possible opportunity to learn and to each. It is impossible to reach every student by trying to teach to their particular preference for learning. The diversity that a classroom offers can be a very exciting addition to the class dynamic. Not only do the students get exposed to different learning styles, they can actually see different teaching styles at work as the instructor tries to reach everyone. Feedback from the students can aid in deciding the direction that the class is headed and which preferences for learning exist within that class. If the instructor can incorporate many ways of teaching into the lessons, then they are doing their job as a good teacher to. It is when they only teach one way—their own—that the process fails. Students should not be categorized as only learning one particular way for depending on the circumstances and the situation, they may move from one style of learning to another.

I guess in reading the Hunt article I was thinking more about trying to understand how to reach all of the learners and not about labels. I will agree that “learning style models are based on myths” but I can also believe that the label is only an indicator of the best way to reach that learner. If the label is placed on the learner, then the learner can be stereotyped as being only able to learn in one particular way but I think that as we grow, and learn, our learning styles change to reflect that growth and acquisition of new knowledge. In my opinion, learning style is about trying to understand the best way to reach the learner for as Hiemstra (1990) states “they [the learners] bring to the learning situation a combined set of emotional, physical, mental and social characteristics that makes each one of them unique.” Keeping each style of learning in mind, and trying to get past the ‘label’, which I feel is only temporary, then this understanding of how each student learns, enables us to explore many possibilities to reach the greatest number of learners. Gross Davis (1993) says that “no one style of learning has been shown to be better than any other and no single style leads to better learning.” The onus to learn/teach does not rest solely on the teacher yet as teachers, we need to help students recognize their individual learning styles and in turn we need to know and understand our own style and the way that it influences our teaching. By doing so, we can vary our teaching strategies and assignments to include all styles of learning thus getting the lesson across to as many students as possible. In relation to the car analogy, I think of it this way. Although I may be driving a “Pacer” according to my bumper sticker, “My other car is a Mercedes”.