Learning Styles -- Visual-Auditory Learners

Learning Styles -- Visual-Auditory Learners

My Learning Style

According to my responses, my predominant learning style is Visual-Auditory. That means I am less inclined to learn optimally from reading textbook material than from the opportunity to listen to lectures and to observe in-person demonstrations or video-based educational materials. Some of the classic characteristics of visual learners apply to me more than others, and that is equally true of the classic characteristics of auditory learners.

For example, with respect to visual learning, I definitely appreciate being able to see what I am learning, but I do not necessarily find passive surrounding ideal. Meanwhile, with respect to auditory learning, I do tend to verbalize to myself as a study aid, but I would not agree that I do not need to pay attention to what is happening around me in the learning environment; nor do I ever hum to myself when I am bored.

Learning Activities and Formats that Match Visual-Auditory Learners

Generally, as an auditory learner, I learn much better from listening to verbal instruction than I do from reading texts. Even when I have to read textbook material assignments, I tend to reinforce main ideas and important concepts by saying them out loud to myself while reviewing them. As a visual learner, I have always found it much easier to learn by watching than by reading.

Although my learning style is categorized as visual-auditory, I would have to say that it is more visual than auditory because given the choice between just watching or just listening, I find watching is more helpful to me than listening. The ideal learning environment for me seems to be situations where I can watch and listen simultaneously and in which reading is emphasized the least.

Activities, Support, and Interactions that Match Visual-Auditory Learners

Participating in this project has helped me understand why I have always enjoyed watching television documentaries, even on subjects that bored me when I studied them in school. For example, I never appreciated my History classes, especially in high school, when we learned almost exclusively from reading textbook lessons. However, I greatly enjoy watching the History Channel; in fact, I have been very surprised that I sometimes find myself watching episodes on topics that I found boring in school.

This project has helped me understand how important it is for me to have some kind of visual component to my learning environment. Luckily, the MAED program and its online learning environment necessarily involves a highly visual-oriented medium. In general, I realize that wherever I have the opportunity or the option of selecting from among different course or lesson formats, those that provide some kind of visual component are most conducive to learning for me. My second choice, in general, would be to learn in an environment that allowed me to listen and to absorb information that way rather than an environment that heavily emphasizes reading texts.

Visual-Auditory Learners as Typical or Atypical