How to Implement Concepts of Learning Styles Into Courses

A better understanding of learning styles has made education more inclusive. In the past, the teacher was the instructor, and the student was meant to be like a sponge, absorbing knowledge and appropriately feeding it back. However, studies of the ways people learn, particularly by Kolb in the modern era, show that there are different learning styles. Kolb expanded this theory on styles to include learning environments and learning modes. For the teacher designing a course, some knowledge of Kolb's model is useful. It requires that a course is designed in a way that will appeal to the learning styles of all the students.

Instructions

    • 1

      Administer the Learning Style Inventory, (LSI). Use this to determine the leaning style of your students. According to Kolb's theory, people tend to learn in an accomodative, assimilative, divergent or convergent way. For instance, accomodative learners tend to be planners and learn best by meeting new experiences. Assimilative learners tend to respond to abstract and logical concepts rather than practical work or interaction with others.

    • 2

      Design your course to meet the needs of those who are accomodative and assimilative learners, and also those students who are divergent and convergent learners. Divergent learners enjoy using the imagination, and convergent learners tend to do well in IQ tests and to be good problem solvers.

    • 3

      Incorporate Kolb's learning modes to suit the different type of learners. According to this model, people learn by concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. The type of learner a student is affects the learning mode that works best for him. Incorporate different learning modes into the design of your course. Prepare materials that meet the needs of the different style of learner.

    • 4

      Include experiential learning tasks since many students need to experience something before reflecting on it, forming their own abstract concepts and then actively experimenting for themselves. Ask the students to reflect on the task they have performed and on what they have gained. Set tasks that suit the problem-solvers, the imaginative and the more pragmatic learners.

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