James & Blank

...Learning-Style Instruments for Adults

In the James and Blank article, they talk a great deal about how complex the learning process is and the external and internal factors that affect effective learning. Like James and Blank, I prefer to use the term learning style because it is much broader than cognitive style.

To understand the best way with which to reach your learners, it is important to try and understand the various styles of learning that do exist. It is also important to know which learning style instrument to use in order to measure the facet of learning style that you are interested in. That is, cognitive, affective or physiological. According to James and Grant, it is often the case that “they [educators] may often be seeking answers to questions cutting across two or even all three dimensions”. (p 48)

Two of the three most important factors to consider when choosing the Learning-style Instrument are its validity and reliability. The data being collected must be true to the dimension being measured and accurate over time compared to other instruments. “Test developers and measurement specialists believe that the validity of an instrument is the most crucial aspect to consider when evaluating its appropriateness”. (p 50)

With so many different instruments for testing learning style available, it is difficult to know which one to use. As someone with no experience whatsoever in conducting these sorts of measurements, I can only rely on input received from those with experience. I think that in doing this we open ourselves to being influenced by the biases of others. One co-worker may have a preference for one instrument as compared to another co-worker. Which one do you choose? It is important to try and become aware of as many as possible for ourselves and to perhaps take each questionnaire personally in order to try and understand how each one works. The problem becomes, which one do we actually use as the gold-standard or benchmark? If we have a benchmark for each of the dimensions, why not just use that particular one all the time?

In my opinion, it is more important to understand the different learning styles that learners exhibit in order to try and reach as many as possible. There is no way that you can use all of them in a classroom unless it is spread out over time. Classes can be varied according to the various styles that exist in the class (and they may not all be present) and this helps to reach as many as possible. It is also helpful to be aware of your own teaching style to be sure that it does not stifle the learning of any of your students. All these instruments are meant to be guides and not to be strictly followed. We need to keep this in mind when trying to determine the best way to teach.