SCHEME FOR PROFESSIONALS IN HIGHER EDUCATION THEME 3:

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SCHEME FOR PROFESSIONALS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
THEME 3

• HOW PEOPLE LEARN
• AND LEARNING THEORIES
• SESSION 2 TEACHING LEARNING Frameworks and
  Styles

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• What do you already know about learning styles?
• Have you seen the theory used in practice or
  tried to implement it yourself?

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• "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/package
  ls.htmlwhatisls

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• '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?vid4cid15sid92ssid4010502opt3

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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

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Howard Gardner
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Honey and Mumford
http//www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/aboutyourl
earning/whatlearning.htm
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KOLB
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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.as
  p
• http//www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/aboutyourl
  earning/whatlearning.htm
• http//www.aboutlearning.com/learning-styles-asses
  sment.htm?gclidCI-xgLr33IcCFUtLMAod7AF0nwSlideFr
  ame_5
• http//www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htmWhat
  20are
• http//www.ldpride.net/learning_style_work.html
• http//www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodolog
  y/learning_style.shtmlone
• http//www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Papers/Secondtie
  r.html

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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 ?

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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)

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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

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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/Teaching20Wi
  th20Style.htm

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• Try these two for your teaching style
• http//members.shaw.ca/mdde615/tchstylsquiz7.htm
• http//www.longleaf.net/teachingstyle.html
• Some advice about different ways of teaching
  /learning
• http//www.sports-media.org/sportapolisnewsletter2
  3newlook.htm
• http//www.tlc.eku.edu/tips/teaching_styles/

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How do we perceive ourselves as teachers?
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as learners?
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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?

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• 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?

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Systematic review/critiqueFrank
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

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• Few based on real research
• Very lucrative - 10 to take test on line
• Very varied
• Very fragmented
• Overlap of styles
• Answers based on mood/context
• stage of life?
• Claxton,Guy Elsin conference
• Elsin Conference
• EUROPEAN LEARNING STYLES INFORMATION NETWORK
• http//www.elsinnet.org.uk/abstracts/1999/1ab-99.h
  tm
• http//www.elsinnet.org.uk/abstracts/2000/1ab-00.h
  tm
• http//www.elsinnet.org.uk/abstracts/2001/1ab-01.h
  tm

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• 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".

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• 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."

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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?vid4cid15sid92ssid4010502opt3

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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

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• 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?
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Critique of education systems through visual
images? http//courses.ed.asu.edu/margolis/visua
l_concepts.html
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