Dealing with different learning styles in an online framework
As luck and coincidence would have it, I attended a full-day professional development seminar yesterday that featured a strong interwoven thread on learning styles. We covered the Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory, Kinesthetic, Auditory and Visual Learning styles, and importantly began to discuss ways of holistically designing learning sessions to ensure most - if not all - styles are catered to in one form or another.
I’d already been studying up on most of these concepts as a self-directed learning exercise, and was therefore familiar with the basics, but to discuss it in class with people who actually understood the material thoroughly (including my colleagues) was fantastic.
That being said though I’m beginning to gain a better grasp of the complexities of formulating a curriculum design for an online environment that caters to multiple learning styles. There are so many possible combinations of learning style preferences that my head is spinning.
As I’ve covered here lately (however inadequately), learners can favour left-brain or right-brain activities; prefer to learn kinaesthetically, auditorily, or visually; prefer either concrete experience (feeling) or abstract conceptualisation (thinking); and vary between active experimentation (doing) and reflective observation (watching).
How on Earth do you integrate each of these styles to maximise and facilitate the learning experience? The answer seems to be: Use a bit of everything.
In a traditional setting this could call upon any of the following:
- Small group work
- Self-directed learning
- Facilitator-directed learning
- Activities, including hands-on experimentation
- Use of video, imagery, music and other audio recordings
- Provision of reading materials
- Active discussion
- Time for personal reflection
- Case Studies and Role Play
- Large-scale lectures**
This list is hardly comprehensive. In fact I would welcome any comments that add to the possibilities - I’ll add them to the list.
** Large-scale lectures are an unfortunate reality in higher education, and are used far more frequently than they should be. Lectures of this nature will cater to certain learning styles, however in an ideal world they would be used sparingly to disseminate information that cannot be presented effectively any other way. **
As I said, the above examples were presented with the setting of a traditional classroom or lecture theatre in mind. The prospect of translating this into an online environment adds a new layer of complexity to the equation. Not only does this substantially reduce - if not eliminate outright - the level of face-to-face interactivity, it introduces the need for one or more software applications, tools, or virtual environments to house the framework for the learning activities. This includes the foundational information, as well as spaces for activities, discussion and reflection.
Furthermore, and arguably even more critical than it is in a classroom, is the facilitation and moderation of the activities. Bring students together when they’re sitting next to one another is one thing; doing it when they’re online is entirely another.
You also need to consider how best to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of the exercises in terms of supporting student learning outcomes, but I won’t even go there yet.
All this makes the critical point that one application or tool doesn’t fit all - not the LMS, not a wiki, not a blog. As with traditional environments, the activities need to be varied, and so too must the online learning spaces.
Even more pointedly this leads to the criticism that use of the Learning Management System as solely a means of pushing content - e.g. PDF and PowerPoint abuse - is hardly an effective teaching method. There are times it is an appropriate option; other times it’s trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
As with traditional classrooms, laboratories and lecture theatres, online learning spaces are what you make of them. In and of themselves they are empty shells; it’s the combination of information, interaction, synthesis, reflection, activity, and participation that ensure an effective learning experience.
Now, I think it’s time for some case studies…
