You’ve got Style!

By Professor Paige Davis

You’re likely familiar with the adage, “no two snowflakes are alike”. The same premise is true regarding the way in which you learn best. When you have an awareness of your individual learning strengths and preferences, you are empowered to use this knowledge to your advantage. You can be much more deliberate (and effective) in your study methods and make more informed decisions about course selection, professors, course formats, etc...

It has only been over the past 20 years that educators recognize that no two learners acquire information best in the same manner. Thankfully, a couple of  super smart educators realized the beautiful, remarkable uniqueness that is you as a learner (and every other living soul) and engaged in extensive research to develop a clear set of four primary learning styles, or preferences: 

Visual Learners

• learn best by what they see
• processes new information best when it is visually illustrated or demonstrated

Aural Learners

• learn best by what they hear
• learner processes new information best when it can be heard as spoken words, musically, media, etc...
  
  

Read/write learners

• learn best by engaging in text
• learner processes new information best by reading new material and writing

 
​Kinesthetic learners

• learn by moving, touching and doing
• learner processes new information best when it can be touched, manipulated or experienced

Many people are multi-modal learners, such as myself, which means a well represented combination of two or more learning styles. However, it is common for most learners to learn best with one learning style as dominant. For example, my dominant learning style is kinesthetic with read/write coming in as a close second. What’s your learning style? Find out by taking the VARK QUESTIONNAIRE which will identify your learning style or styles(s). Be sure to select all that apply for each question. You should have anywhere from 1 to 4 selections for each question.

Once you have identified your learning style(s), you can leverage this knowledge to your benefit. Here are tips and suggestions to maximize your educational experience by increasing effectiveness and efficiency.