Learning Preferences: Understanding Who I Am as a Learner

Each of you have your own preferences in how you learn. You prefer certain modalities over others, and not just because you like them, but because you perform and achieve better.  We know this as the learning preferences. Before we go into the specifics of what these preferences are, take this survey to discover your learning strengths. 

Take the questionnaire and discover your learning preferences:

https://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/ 

From the survey results, you have a better awareness of your learning preference and the modality which works best for you. You may have one that stands out, a combination of some, or a little bit of each one.

There is no right or wrong way to learn, but by understanding the different learning styles that exist and how they impact you, you can add more tools to your learning belt. Let’s have a look at each of the preferences. If you prefer visual learning you learn best with graphics such as maps, diagrams, and body language. Strategies could be highlighting important points or graphing data. If you prefer auditory learning, you learn best when listening to instructions and discussing topics. Auditory strategies include asking questions or explaining your thinking to others. If reading and writing is your learning strength, you learn best when reading and taking notes. Strategies that can help you include doing further reading, written descriptions of key ideas. Those with kinesthetic learning strengths learn best when they try things out and put learning into practice.  Strategies for you include testing things out while learning or imagining it as a real life concept.

There are some practical strategies that can be applied in your classes and your daily organization to help with making learning stick. First, your best learning should be taking place at the start of your class and the end. This is when the flow of your learning happens and the optimal time to retain information. Secondly, taking opportunities to work collaboratively with others. In a group setting, you can share ideas, chat through thinking with your peers. You can create more enduring learning when you transfer your knowledge into new mediums. If you have the opportunity to present your work through art, design, or other form, take that opportunity. Taking your knowledge and thinking about it in a different way, will help your learning stick. Recalling opportunities are important moments that will help your knowledge stick to your long term memory.  When you get home, list out what you remember, whether it be a math formula or strategy or key words from science, or dates from humanities. If there is too much time-lapse from when you learn the material to when you next engage, you will have to relearn it all over again or have a cram session. Next, making a mistake is ok. Getting answers wrong is a part of your learning and memory process and will help with building your neural pathways.  Taking nine classes is no easy feat. So trying to keep your stress levels low can be a challenge. How do you do that? Keeping yourself organized and planned can help with how you cope in your day to day. Low stress will also keep you open to learning opportunities.  When you study, it is important that you do this throughout your units and not just before your assessments. You also want to include reviewing previous material and concepts too. One way to review is self- testing by recalling. This will help you with long term memory consolidation and therefore enduring learning.