Did you know that the way you learn depends on your personality, how your brain works, the environment and the culture you are familiar with?
By understanding ourselves and becoming more aware of these differences, we become more capable of adjusting to new situations throughout our lifetimes as learners.
You might have heard the saying; “Anyone can learn, not just on the same day or in the same way.” So, every individual’s learning style, speed and capacity are different, and everybody can learn when a proper learning environment is provided. What should be done is to identify how learners learn the best and make it easier for them to learn efficiently. The learning environment should also be arranged according to the learning style. In this way, personalized learning experiences can be offered accordingly.
So can we say; Your “learning style” is the best learning style? Yes, indeed. Each individual has a unique learning style and a preferred method of learning and remembering.
What are those different learning styles?
VARK learning styles aim to reveal how individuals exchange information and how they prefer to process that information. It is a valuable model that educators should keep in mind when trying to create a variety of learning content to attract attention.
- V: Visual learners: They conserve new information through visual representations of concepts (ie. graphics, pictures, photographs and diagrams)
- A: Auditory learners: They receive information through sounds, stories, discussions, lecture-style presentations, and podcasts.
- R: Read/Write learners: They use lists, written descriptions, note-taking and articles to learn.
- K: Kinesthetic learners: They simply touch, try to feel and move around to absorb information.
One learning style is not better or worse than the other. Everyone uses all learning styles throughout their lives but prefers the one more.
Would you like to discover your learning style? The questionnaire is here!
How can you create learning experiences that appeal to different learning styles?
Some researches have shown that the learners learn best through “multi-modal” learning if educators address different learning styles at the same time. Multi-modal learning incorporates the brain into more than one learning style at the same time using different formats and environments.
For example, a video lecture with captions and a downloadable pdf, use visual, auditory, and written learning styles. By combining learners’ different learning styles, educators can create an ideal learning environment for many learners at the same time.
David Lazear, an author and a multi-intelligence expert, summarizes the importance and the value of the multimodal learning strategy as follows;
“What does multi-modal learning mean? In a nutshell, it means that the more different ways you learn something the more you will really learn it! The more different ways you learn something, the more you will remember it! The more different ways you learn something, the more you will genuinely understand it!”
David Lazear
At LVG Learning, we know that tourism professionals can learn at their own pace and through a range of formats is the fundamentals of effective learning. In our ‘learning experience’ design processes, we use a multimodal learning strategy to increase understanding and recall of the information.
We care to offer learning opportunities through visual, auditory, written and kinesthetic ways rather than one-dimensional learning experiences. For more information, please read the destination learning journeys page.
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