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LEARNING STYLES

Each participant has their own approach to learning based on their strengths, weaknesses andpreferences and this is referred to as their . This concept started developing in the 1970’slearning styleand there are many contested theories about learning styles and their validity. Regardless, I feel it ishelpful to know a little about the basic principles when planning your own and others’ learning. Thissection summarises the recent theories on “Discovery Learning”, “Action Learning”, “ExperientialLearning”, “Active Learning”, “Self-Directed Learning” and “Neuro-Linguistic Programing” (NLP).

NLP is described as an approach to communication, personal development and psychotherapy created inthe U.S. in the 70’s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. NLP has worthwhile and intersting ideas you canincorporate.

People learn through their senses. They will have a preferred learning style that they will experience theirworld through. The (modalities) are: – seeing and watching-three main representational systems visualseeing things in the mind’s eye; – listening and remembering sounds; or – doing andauditory kinestheticinvolving, tactile, sense of touch and feeling the world. Some people are in one, others use a dominant

in varying degrees.combination

It is thought that you can work out what modalities people operate in by their whenchoice of languagedescribing things. For example:

Visual: see, look, picture that, view, appeared, I can see your point, can you see the value in this,imagine thatAuditory: I hear you, rings a bell, heard, said, sounds good to me, speak to me, I don’t like thesound of thatKinesthetic: hard, soft, cold, how do you feel about that?, that feels right to me, this is hard tograsp, I can handle that.

One aspect of NLP Theory suggests that an individuals eye movements indicate what modality they areusing.

My experience of using NLP is that if you are using the same modality as someone else you have a greaterchance of connecting with them and engaging them in the interaction (learning and conversation).

Ways to present material:Below are ways to present information in the three different modes (sometimes called channels).

VisualCharts, video, white board, slides, pictures, visualisation, diagrams, written notes from the leader, writteninstructions, reading, films, graphs, tables, drawing, painting, photographs, comics, cartoons,demonstrations, written lists, thinking in pictures, mind maps.

AuditoryDiscussion, interviews, lecture, repetition, rote learning, verbal instructions, reading out loud from notes,music, audio, recitations, dialogue.

KinestheticInvolvement, role play, painting, physical activity, drawing, simulation, making things, participant writingnotes and lists, movement, hands on, activities, games, touch, doing, hypotheticals, sculpting, singing.

A group leader needs to incorporate all these modalities/styles so that participants are comfortable andswitched on to the learning process. Only if you can assess all the participants and find that they all havethe same learning style should you let one style dominate in the way you facilitate their learning. Using all

and group members their will their and .modes involving through senses increase enjoyment retention

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Your choice for delivery of the content/information can vary from a presentation (lecture style ofdidacticthe traditional classroom) through a continuum which ends with learning (where theexperientialparticipants are very involved). This involvement can even be in the design of their own learning, possibleby developing a learning contract. Don’t just lecture and show dozens of slides. Avoid mindless activity.Concentrate on , a little bit of everything but it must be well structured. what you are doing. variety Enjoy

the participants’ and you will enhance their learning. Use Involve emotions humour, activity, music, funand .play

When you are encouraged to understand your own process of learning as well as the outcome, you havelearnt how to learn. By the end of the group process therefore, if you have encouraged and activatedpeople to learn on their own without your direction you have succeeded. If participants can reflect ontheir learning styles they can become active participants in their own learning. They can then plan andenrich their own future learning and become independent learners. The skill has become generalised, thatis they can relate the learning to other areas.

Further exploration of learning style models suggests that there is a . This concept developslearning cyclethe idea that people learn from their experiences and continuously test out their understanding and howthey absorb meaning. Participants will start at a point on the learning cycle and progress through eachstage in a different way based on their preferred or dominant learning style.

There are many “ ” available for you to use to assess what type of learning styleLearning Style Inventoriesyou/your participants’ have. They work on a “self-report” style questionnaire. It is worthwhile doing oneto gain an insight into how you learn best. Some people are skeptical about the inventories but I feel theyare helpful and you can use the results as a diagnostic tool also: Do I train others in only my style oflearning? Do I need to work on areas that are lacking? Do I have a balanced profile?

Learning occurs in small sequential steps with the occasional leap – therefore one often learns best fromsomeone who is just a step or two ahead (rather than an expert). That is another reason why small groupwork is so effective for the participants.

Various models frame the differently and I have combined a few different models to show thefour styleslearning styles in relation to the learning cycle. This is definitely aimed at the visual learners.

IMAGINATIVE Feeling/watching ACTIVIST SUPPORTER DIVERGER

ANALYTICAL Watching/thinking REFLECTOR ANALYSER ASSIMILATOR

COMMONSENSE Thinking/doing THEORIST CONTROLLER CONVERGER

DYNAMIC Doing/feeling PRAGMATIST PROMOTER ACCOMMODATOR

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AN OLD CHINESE PROVERB

I HEAR and I FORGET I SEE and I REMEMBER I DO and I UNDERSTAND

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PREPARING A PROGRAM

A is a formal documentation of the aims/ objectives/goals of the group and the strategiesprogramapplied to achieve them.

An is a or that you want the participants to gainobjective description of the skill, knowledge competencefrom the session or that you want the group as a whole to produce or that you will be able to observe.The to achieve the strategies objective(s) must be specific, realistic, achievable, measurable and time

. Framing clear, specific objectives and strategies adds a discipline that is challenging butboundworthwhile.

The objective is an outcome. The or that the participant demonstrates is theexpected behaviour attitudeoutcome. Which of these terms (objectives, outcomes, aims, goals, behaviours) you use, depends uponyour individual preference and training. There will be at least one specific, observable indicator of eachgroup member’s learning outcome. If the outcome matches the objective, the group has been successful.

The steps between objectives and outcomes are what this book is about. A general formula you could useas a guide to framing objectives is: Target (which may be implied), a describing the actionaudience verbor performance (listed below), and a of what they will be able to do (comes from the contentdescriptionbeing covered). For example “The will be able to to participants list some basic strategies build their

”self-confidence.

In formal situations, some people even add the standard of performance required and the condition underwhich the participant will have to perform. For example, “ will be to have Reece able three pre-prepared

to that his ” Some of the words used whenresponses say to a work place bully supervisor would support.describing objectives are:

ability acquire adapt

analyse apply compare

create classify construct

compute criticise display

develop design define

devise demonstrate explain

evaluate examine express

formulate generalise illustrate

incorporate improve identify

justify label list

measure perform predict

recall recognise summarise

support use write

As you can see from the list, the not abstract; how do you know that a participantwords are concreteknows something unless they can show you in a concrete way the result of their learning. The benefit ofdefining objectives is that you will have a specific measure of success. You can use these measures inevaluating your session/course. You may affect values, beliefs and attitudes, but they are generally moredifficult to measure outcomes (but not impossible).

I find it helps to imagine what a participant who reaches the desired level of competency would be ableto do after being in the program. I then work backwards to determine what skills/knowledge they wouldhave needed to master along the way. I derive my strategies from this process. My are: thestrategiesactivities I use, the resources I need and my style of instruction.

TIMINGThis is both in length of time of the session and time of day/night for the session. Worka crucial factor

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ri Hamer. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable

copyright law.

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