Week 1 - Learning Theory & e-Learning

As part of our engagement activities this week, I undertook two tests that are designed to determine what type of learning style I favour.  I have to say that I found it very interesting reading about the various types of `smarts'.  In the past, I would probably been inclined to say that a person was either `smart' or `not so smart', but not look further into the varying types of `smarts' a person can have.  I wasn't overly surprised at the results of my test, as I would have considered myself both word and number smart, but I would never have said that I was particularly `nature smart' or `body smart', though having said that, I've always known that I enjoy solitary time walking or running, as it allows me the time to work on problems and to formulate courses of action.  I seem to see things clearer when I'm doing this type of activity.  When I don't need to focus on the physical activity that I'm doing, my brain seems to make connections that it wouldn't ordinary make.

Now, that I'm aware of these different learning styles, I can see how different my two children's learning styles are.  My son is a lot like me in his learning style, for instance when we do his homework, I often take him outside and incorporate physical activities into the homework session, eg. once he's read 5 pages of his book, we get to kick the football to each other 10 times etc.  This approach really works for him, and makes homework sessions so much easier.  My daughter on the other hand, is more than happy to sit for hours at a time, reading, writing and listening to instructions.  She is a very intelligent child who is extremely motivated in her desire to learn and amazes me with the level of persistence and tenacity that she shows for a 6 year old child.  If all classrooms were filled with clones of my girl, we'd all have a very easy and satisfying life as teachers.

This is only a sample of two children, but it is amazing how different two `normal' learners are in their approach to learning.  If I taught my class according to the way that I'd teach my daughter, I imagine I would lose the interest of a great proportion of the class, as they would hate sitting still and taking in knowledge.  Likewise, students like my daughter would not necessarily enjoy a classroom that was continually moving around, as she would want to `just get on with the learning'.  It is clear that a varied approach is required when teaching a classroom and all of the various learning types within the classroom need to be appreciated and catered for at some point in time, otherwise it is not fair to the students who have a different learning style to my teaching style.  This is obviously a big challenge for the teacher, and one that may be quite intimidating as it may take the teacher out of their own comfort zone.