SCHEME FOR PROFESSIONALS IN HIGHER EDUCATION THEME 3:

HOW PEOPLE LEARN AND LEARNING THEORIES

SESSION 2: TEACHING & LEARNING Frameworks and Styles

What do you already know about learning styles?

Have you seen the theory used in practice or tried to implement it yourself?

"an individual's characteristic way of processing information feeling, and behaving in learning situations" (Smith, as cited in Merriam and Caffarella, 1991, p. 176).

"the cognitive, affective, and physiological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment" (Keefe, as cited in Swanson, 1995, p. 2).

"the complex manner in which, and conditions under which, learners most efficiently and most effectively perceive, process, store, and recall what they are attempting to learn" (James and Gardner, 1995, p. 20).

http://www.tss.uoguelph.ca/resources/idres/packagels.html#whatisls

'As a society, we repeatedly confuse styles with abilities, resulting in individual differences that are really due to styles being viewed as due to abilities … Many of the students we are consigning to the dust heaps of our classrooms have the abilities to succeed. It is we, not they, who are failing. We are failing to recognise the variety of thinking and learning styles they bring to the classroom, and teaching them in ways that don't fit them well.'

(Sternberg, 1997)

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/supplyteachers/detail.cfm?&vid=4&cid=15&sid=92&ssid=4010502&opt=3

THE IDENTIFICATION of LEARNING STYLES

Learning style theorists have developed different terminology for learning characteristics

Broad agreement that any group of learners will encompass at least 4 bands of learning styles.

There will be some cross over of characteristics, but learners will have a ‘dominant’ preference

Learners also bring additional characteristics to the learning context: existing knowledge, personal skills, personal motivations, gender,socio-economic status, language

Howard Gardner

 

               

               

 

  Reflector Theorist  

 

                               

 

  Activist Pragmatist

Honey and Mumford

http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/aboutyourlearning/whatlearning.htm

KOLB

Examples of learning styles/advice

http://www.learning-styles-online.com/inventory/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles

http://www.engsc.ac.uk/er/theory/learningstyles.asp

http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/aboutyourlearning/whatlearning.htm

http://www.aboutlearning.com/learning-styles-assessment.htm?gclid=CI-xgLr33IcCFUtLMAod7AF0nw#SlideFrame_5

http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm#What%20are http://www.ldpride.net/learning_style_work.html http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/learning

_style.shtml#one http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/Secondtier.html

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE 1

Prediction/identification of potential problems students may encounter

Adaptation / integration of different teaching strategies to provide support

Organise time to encompass different learning styles Ensure all styles are catered for across the learning

experience (e.g. course)

How does it marry with ‘teaching smarter’ ?

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE 2

Marton (1975): Approaches to study Students’ approaches to a task (their

intention), determines the level of engagement & thus the quality of the outcomes

These approaches may be classified as either DEEP or SURFACE

More recently extended to include ‘STRATEGIC LEARNING’ (Entwistle, 1997)

Identifying Teaching Styles

Expert (transmitter of information) Formal Authority (sets standards and defines

acceptable ways of doing things) Personal Models (teaches by illustration and direct

example) Facilitator (guides and directs by asking questions,

exploring options, suggesting alternatives) Delegator (develops student ability to function

autonomously)A.F.Grasha, University of Cincinnati

Dominant teaching styles?

38% Cluster 1: Expert/ Formal authority 22% Cluster 2: Personal Model/ Expert/

Formal authority 17% Cluster 3: Facilitator/ Personal Model/

Expert 15% Cluster 4: Delegator/Facilitator/Expert

http://spahp.creighton.edu/ofda/docs/Teaching%20With%20Style.htm

Try these two for your teaching style http://members.shaw.ca/mdde615/tchstylsquiz

7.htm

http://www.longleaf.net/teachingstyle.html

Some advice about different ways of teaching /learning

http://www.sports-media.org/sportapolisnewsletter23newlook.htm

http://www.tlc.eku.edu/tips/teaching_styles/

How do we perceive ourselves as teachers?

as learners?

PRACTICAL TASKS

Use one of the Learning Style inventories to identify your own current preferred learning style

Use one of the Teaching Style inventories to identify your own current preferred teaching style

What were the outcomes of your inventories? Were they useful? Accurate?

What did you think of the process?

What are the implications for you as a teacher?

What are the implications for your learners?

What might the implications be for a learner with special needs?

What might the implications be for a mature student?

What might be the implications for students of different cultures?

Systematic review/critique

Frank CoffieldInstitute of EducationUniversity of LondonDavid MoseleyUniversity of NewcastleElaine HallUniversity of NewcastleKathryn EcclestoneUniversity of Exeter

71 different theories of learning style

http://www.lsda.org.uk/files/PDF/1543.pdf

Few based on real research Very lucrative - £10 to take test on line Very varied Very fragmented Overlap of styles Answers based on mood/contextstage of life?

Claxton,Guy – Elsin conference Elsin Conference EUROPEAN LEARNING STYLES INFORMATION

NETWORK http://www.elsinnet.org.uk/abstracts/1999/1ab-

99.htm http://www.elsinnet.org.uk/abstracts/2000/1ab-

00.htm http://www.elsinnet.org.uk/abstracts/2001/1ab-

01.htm

Each to their own

The government espouses the theory of learning styles with scant regard to the evidence, says Phil Revell

Tuesday May 31, 2005The Guardian

"Learning styles" is one of the fashionable phrases at the Department for Education and Skills. In part, this reflects the new emphasis on choice, but underpinning it is the theory that everyone has an individual style of learning and that working with that style, rather than against it, will benefit both pupil and teacher. "Through an understanding of learning styles, teachers can exploit pupils' strengths and build their capacity to learn," says a DfES pamphlet on the subject. The anonymous authors go on to say that the theory of learning styles is based on "tried and tested techniques" and draws on "academic research and the experience of practising teachers".

What the pamphlet fails to mention is the fact that the theory is controversial, and that two major reports in the past 12 months have attacked the research basis for the approach.

"The language of learning styles has saturated the personalised learning agenda," says Guy Claxton, professor of education at Bristol University. "That they [the DfES] should recommend the theory so uncritically is, frankly, incredible."

But discussion of all this can help learning and teaching In practical terms, the most important

thing to recognise is that there is evidence for significant differences in the way learners approach their learning, and that they can all benefit from experiencing different approaches to learning.

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/supplyteachers/detail.cfm?&vid=4&cid=15&sid=92&ssid=4010502&opt=3

BEYOND LEARNING STYLES? – OTHER FACTORS Race,P. (2005), Making Learning Happen, Chapter 3

Wanting to Learn (intrinsic motivation) Needing to Learn (extrinsic motivation) Learning by Doing (practice, trial and

error, repetition) Learning from feedback Making sense of learning

Is the individual the key factor anyway?

Impact of immediate learning environment? – physical/social emotional/intellectual?

Impact of wider world?

Impact of values?

Hidden curriculum?

Critique of education systems through visual images?

http://courses.ed.asu.edu/margolis/visual_concepts.html