While we certainly agree, as evidenced by taking this class, Computer’s in Education, that technology has a prominent place in learning, we should be careful to apply it in an appropriate manner. Using technology that fits students individual learning needs is very important. Countless hours of teaching could be wasted if the teaching style does not match students’ learning styles, therefore we must be able to assess students’ learning styles and apply it to the way they are taught.
Our book, Teaching and Learning with Technology, tells us that there are three primary learning styles. These are considered auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. An auditory learner learns best by listening; a visual learner learns best by seeing; and a kinesthetic learner would be one that learns best by doing. These are not to be seen as exclusive. For example, a visual learner does not learn only by seeing. Surely auditory and kinesthetic teaching would be effective on this student, but simply not to the same degree that a visual approach would provide.
A student with a proficiency for auditory learning would likely benefit from traditional lecture based classes. Podcasts and the like would be helpful for lessons to be learned away from the classroom, simply through repetitive listening. Visual learners can also find something for them in a modern classroom. Often presentation software (Powerpoint, Keynote) is used to reinforce lessons visually. These lessons can be taken home and even used with podcast-like systems for learning away from the classroom. Kinesthetic learning is easily provided in classes that provide students with computers at every desk. Instructors can lead students through steps and students can actually perform the steps. Of course this is not the only place kinesthetic learning is provided. A foreign language class for example would require students to actually speak the words and phrases they see and hear.
I see cognitive styles as, of course, different from learning styles, but an important foreshadowing of learning styles. The Myers-Briggs cognitive types are the most widely recognized in this area and include: extrovert, introvert, sensing, intuitive, thinking, feeling, judging, and perceiving. People with similar cognitive types are likely to have similar learning styles, since learning is very connected with the way one thinks. For example, it would be interesting to determine if a person with a perceiving cognitive style would be closer to the visual learning style than the kinesthetic.
