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About Learning Styles: Example #1
Course Title: Pedagogy: Learning Styles
Available online at: http://www.cyg.net/~jblackmo/diglib/styl-a.html
Author: Jessica Blackmore.
This article provides interesting dialogue about what motivates adults to
learn. They have brought together a variety of resources on learning styles for
adults, men versus women, and various other author’s theories on learning
styles.
They provide great information on teaching adults. The article begins by
putting forward the fact that adult learners are:
1) self-directed
2) goal-oriented
3) problem centered, ie: need to know why they are learning something
4) practical and problem solvers
5) have accumulated life experiences
These are many of the features that describe good candidates for online
education. I’m sure not all adults are good online learners, nor do all adults
fit into the category above, but many of these factors that distinguish child
learners from adult learners can help course designers.
The article
also lists the following motivating factors for adults seeking education:
1) to make or maintain social relationships
2) to meet external expectations—the job requires that they upgrade
3) to learn to better serve others
4) professional advancement
5) escape or stimulate
6) pure interest
For our own online course, a questionnaire at the beginning of a semester could
help to determine the motivation of the students. This can help the instructor
decide where best to focus their energy-- particularly if there exists many
avenues of exploration available with the class material.
The article also discusses differences between men and women. I think their
ideas about the way women learn (by today’s standards) are absurd. The
information comes from a 1986 paper which may have reflected women’s thinking
in the 80’s, not the 21st century. They
also present a discussion of Kolb’s and Gardner’s theories on learning styles,
and give useful examples of how to grab the attention of the learners described
by Kolb.
All in all I think this article gives the reader much food for thought, along
with a rich bibliography to explore various aspects further.
