Personal Learning Styles Learning Style After Completing

Personal Learning Styles

Learning Style

After completing the VARK questionnaire, I have learned that out of the four types of learners, I have strong tendencies for three out of the four types. I am mostly a visual and read/write learner with equal scores in both areas. Furthermore, with a score very close to the first two categories, I am also a kinesthetic learner. Lastly, with the lowest score, I am an aural learner. Compared to how I perceive my own learning styles outside of this questionnaire, I mostly agree. I think I am mostly a visual and kinesthetic learner.

I do learn by reading and writing, as well as aurally, but not as much. They are not so much my preference for learning, but I cannot deny that those aspects assist my understanding. Some people are not the best at public speaking or giving instructions, and that is why I think I learn by aural learning the least. I do not always or heavily rely upon the oration skills of an instructor as my primary method of learning and understanding. I do enjoy learning by listening to other students or professionals asking and answering questions or by debating or discussing issues as part of the instruction. That kind of aural learning is very useful for me.

While I value having the directions and handouts for me to peruse, I am the type of person that tries to do something without the directions first and perhaps refer to them if I run into trouble or if cannot foresee the upcoming steps in the process of completing the task at hand. My most preferred methods of learning are kinesthetic and visual. Advanology has this to say about visual learners:

If you use the visual style, you prefer using images, pictures, colors, and maps to organize information and communicate with others. You can easily visualize objects, plans and outcomes in your mind's eye. You also have a good spatial sense, which gives you a good sense of direction. You can easily find your way around using maps, and you rarely get lost. When you walk out of an elevator, you instinctively know which way to turn. (2012)

I truly appreciate a variety of visual representations of information that helps me classify and contextualize the information. This description of visual learners is very much like how I am. This is one way I know the questionnaire and Advanology are correct.

I also learn the best when I have to learn through experience, also called experiential learning. Kinesthetic learning is closely aligned with experiential learning and body or muscle memory. Our bodies retain the memories of how to perform a task and what the task physically entails in the muscles. Apparently, not that many people are this kind of learner, as the following explains:

Making up about 5% of the population, tactile and kinesthetic learners absorb information best by doing, experiencing, touching, moving or being active in some way. (LVLT, 2010)

This is the kind of learning and spatial intelligence that people like athletes, dancers, and actors have. Perhaps my experience as a long time athlete, trained dancer, and as an actor (theater and film) influences or supports my preference for kinesthetic learning.

My preferred learning strategies include again, a variety of visual representations. I learn when there is context. It is difficult for me to just memorize facts without understanding clearly the greater context within which the facts fit and what roles the facts play in the topic overall. Graphs, charts, pictures, videos, even google analytics and informatics prove to be very useful for me when learning in class or on my own. It is important for me to have a clear visualization of the object or concept in my mind that I can manipulate or change based on my own thoughts or goals, as well as whatever is required of me by the instructor. When I visualize something clearly, it is a sign that I have a strong hold of the meaning of the concept. Kinesthetic learning is simply learning by doing, learning by going through the experience of the task at hand. Therefore, courses with labs, classes that require some kind of physical aspect such as in the sciences or in the arts (set design, art direction, choreography, etc.) are best for me because I learn by doing the thing about which I am learning.

Compared to the results provided by the questionnaire and my own preferences, there is clear alignment. I was surprised that my visual learning score and my reading/writing score were the same and were the top scores. I thought for sure that visual and kinesthetic learning scores would be at the top. Reading and writing definitely has a visual aspect to it, unless one is blind, which I am not, so I guess I can see how they are related and why the scores are the same. Overall, I agreed with the results and thought that the questionnaire was accurate. I thought for sure that the questionnaire would be much longer than it actually was.

Because I already have a strong awareness of my preferred learning styles and strategies, there is not much at this point I can do to modify my study habits. I have taken tests such as the VARK questionnaire in the past; therefore, I have had some time to adjust my study habits as well as what kind of courses I take to support the ways I learn best. I should keep myself apprised of emerging developments in study habits and study aids for people with my preferred learning styles, but at this point, I have a strong command over my knowledge of my learning styles and how to study such that I am working with and not against how I learn best or naturally.