Oh, my God. What's up, guys? What's up? What's
up? Welcome back. This is food for thought. Thoughts
of it were you. I'm your host, Neogentrics. We've
just learned and had the ability to now do. Video
podcast, so you not just get to hear my lovely
voice, but you can see me now, too, if that's
something that you're into. Wearing one of the
weirdest shirts possible, and I'm, you know,
trying to make the best of a very weird situation.
Just trying to make the best of it. Life goes
on. It's another day here in Houston. It's supposed
to rain today. We'll see how that works out.
It's 3 a .m. as usual, like I used to do with
my podcast. I'll be recording every morning at
3 a .m. When they go live, we'll just be determined
by the platform that you're watching it on. So
while the YouTube one may go live during the
day, the audio version will be available early
morning after the recordings, usually. So we're
going to go ahead and get started. And, yeah,
we'll look into the beginning of what we got
going on. All right, then. Let's get started,
shall we? Powered by Riverside FM. Alright then.
Well then, let's get started, shall we? Alright.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Alright,
so apparently Riverside FM is sponsoring... This
whole thing, they're allowing me to do the podcast
from here. So we're going to get started. Learning
styles. We have different types of learning styles,
as I've mentioned before. And the whole idea
of learning styles is that we all have a way.
in which we prefer to learn, okay? And it's how
we get on and do things and how we go about it.
For example, some people like to, so what I'm
looking for here, well, it looks like I cut myself.
Some people like to sit down and read about a
subject while others prefer to just get on with
it and get started and, you know. fiddle with
whatever the device is that they're working with
or working on. However, it's not unusual. Well,
it's not usually quite as clear cut in this regard
since purposes can change over time. And you're
required to do different things at work or in
life more generally, and it doesn't allow this
to be a possibility of a thing that's normal.
So I guess what I'm saying is an understanding
of your preferred learning style may help you
to find new ways of studying and better improve
your work and help you to move on with your life
in a way that's more positive. Everybody has
a way that they learn. Everyone has a way that
they go about doing everything. And some people
have a habit of sticking to the one main thing.
You can't do that. Not everybody can stick to
the same exact rhythm over and over and over
and over and over again. If you can do that,
that's great. That's fine. That's dandy. Congratulations.
But some people need to be able to mix things
up and cycle through all the different abilities
and stuff that they have because it's the only
way they're going to be able to move forward
in life and do what they have to do. Before we
mentioned Kolb's experimental learning circle,
that was a thing. And let me think here for a
second. Let me see. The learning cycle, if I
remember correctly, because it's been a while,
the learning cycle proposes that we all learn
from our experiences in the cylindrical, circular
in a circular way. I had to think for a minute.
Um, the only thing in front of me is my keyboard.
I'm staring at my keyboard. The lights are changing,
but people often some, uh, observe sometimes
the way people observe sometimes happens in a
way where they can reflect on their observations
and think about what's going on. Uh, let me see
here. Yeah, so they stop, they think about what
they're doing, they try to make it happen. These
experiences, this experience and reflection is
then incorporated into the theoretical knowledge
that the person already possesses or is supported
by reading and training, building up a framework
in which to fit their experiences as a whole
into the same unit. And, you know, in order to
complete that cycle, people then need to be able
to practice the new skills that they have learned.
And it's not always that simple. And like I said,
Kobe proposed a cycle of four different learning
styles. Okay, it's based off of that spectrum
I mentioned before, the circle that is round,
split into four, where the main one was concrete
experience, engaging in an activity or experience,
reflective observation, reflecting on the activity
or experience, and then active experimentation
on the left, trying out and testing the new skills
and abilities, and then on the right, abstract
conceptualizationism. conceptualizing, gaining
knowledge or skills from that experience. Okay.
So there are four different learning styles.
Cole proposed this as a cycle, but there's no
question that while we go through the cycle,
when we learn something, we will also prefer
to start in different places and to spend more
time on some aspects than others. And if I remember
correctly, From what I read, there are two men,
one's called Peter Honey and the other one's
Alan Mumford. Mumford. Sorry. They noticed this
and they built on his theory and proposed the
learning styles that I'm about to give you that
make a little, that are, I guess, pretty more,
they're more straightforward in a way. I guess
that's one way to put it. Nope. That's not what
I wanted to do. There it goes. So, yeah, this
thing is still, it's still new. So I'm not, I'm
going to ask my producer to stop messing with
it. I think he's trying to. All right. So anyway,
the four styles were activists. pragmatist, reflector,
and theorist, okay? Activists learn by doing,
and they don't want to hear what they should
be doing. They want to just dive in headfirst
and have a go at it. They most likely say things
like, let's give it a go and see what happens,
or can I try it out first, please? You know,
they want to do something first to see what fails
or what works. Whereas pragmatists, they care
about what works in the real world. Real world
conceptualization, they aren't interested in
abstract concepts. They just want to know if
it works. So more than likely, they're going
to be egging on the activists to do something
so they can write down what doesn't work, what
does work, making note of all that. You're more
likely to hear these types of people say, okay,
how will this work in practice? Or I just don't
see how this is even relevant. I tend to do that
every now and then, but I fall into all four
of these categories for this very reason because
I tend to do a little bit of each. Reflectors,
they like to think about what they're learning.
They want to understand things thoroughly before
they try them out. Consider every possible thought
and action. These reflectors are more likely
to say things like, let me think about this for
a minute. Or, hey, hey, hey, dude, let's not
rush into anything just quite yet. Let's just
think it out a little bit more. Let's have a
plan. Of course, most people, especially the
headstrong people, they don't. They don't want
to hear that. They don't want to do that. That's
an issue. They are more likely to work with people
who are a little bit slightly pragmatic, but
mostly the theorists. And the theorists specifically.
These like to understand how the new things fit
into their framework and into previous theories
and how they work well with other things as such.
They're likely to be uncomfortable with things
that don't fit or with things that don't fit
in or go along with things they already know
don't work. They're not likely to go and work
with someone who's... who's active or pragmatic,
but they will use the information that they've
gained from them to, in a word, gain more additional
knowledge. You're likely to hear guys like this
or women like this say, okay, but how does this
fit with such and such? How does this fit in
here? Or I'd just like to understand the principles
behind this a little bit more before I do something.
They want to make sure it's effective. And in
order to learn effectively, like I said earlier,
it's important to be able to use not one, not
two, but all four styles. Most people have a
preference of at least one or two, and that's
fine. But they're usually in the common mixtures
of like activist, pragmatic, like I said before,
and reflector and theorist. These are the categories
that tend to go together instead of working together
and utilizing all four. But I can honestly see
how. activists, pragmatists could get on the
other two's nerves and such and so forth. As
it is possible to learn and develop other styles
and learning styles, preferences as they change
over time, unlike other psychological assessments,
the Myers -Briggs type indicators, they tend
to stay remarkably consistent over time. And
they're a good way to judge whether or not you
have certain skill sets or certain styles or
which ones you prefer over the others. But I
will say this, when it comes down to learning
styles, people often notice that their learning
style has changed in response to different job
demands or changes in their lifestyle when necessary.
So a lot of times they're not always all here.
That's a thing. Right. So the next thing I want
to go ahead and talk about is VAC model of learning.
Let's see here. All right. The VAC model of learning,
one of the most common models of learning styles.
is taught to teachers and therefore familiar
to many children in, but it's based on the, something
called the NLP, the neuro -linguistic programming.
It's a thing that, in a way, I guess you could
say it, well, we'll cover that in a later episode.
Let me see here. It basically provides practical
ways in which you can change the way you think
or view past events. It's definitely something
I'd like to cover moving back into personal skills
when I cover memory skills. But, again, topic
for a later date. So, anyway, VAK, the VAC model.
VAK stands for visual. auditory, and kinesthetic,
and describes how you prefer to take in the information
around you. Visual learners prefer to take in
information by seeing and often processing it
in pictorial form. This means that they will
often think, remember in pictures, and like to
read, see graphs, and use symbols. Auditory learners,
they prefer to listen and take in the information
a little over time, but consistently, and learn
it by what they hear. They favor lectures, discussions
over actually reading something. And then the
last one. It refers to learners that learn by
experience and practical applications by tactile
exploration of the world and things around them.
They prefer to learn by experimenting with this,
that, and the other. You know, like, this is
a pretty cool pen. How does this work? Oh, I
could take this off. Let's see here. If I unscrew
this, you know, how do I get the ink out? Oh,
wait. When I unscrew this, there's an ink cartridge
in here. You know, well, there's supposed to
be. And, you know, the ink comes out through
the bottom of the cartridge. It pours out into
the lid of this. You put the lid on this back.
Screw it on. You know, get a piece of paper.
Write something down on it. Close up the pen,
put it away. And, you know, oh, I dropped, I
leaked some oil on my ink on myself. But, you
know, it helps you write. So that's the thing.
Most parents will testify. It's not unreasonable
to describe very young children as kinesthetic.
That's usually how they start. They're always
wanting to feel something, touch something, put
their mouths on something. That's usually how
you start out. Again, not everybody's the same.
And it just differs from person to person. The
use of language, identifying the way that someone
thinks, is usually related to various factors,
to be fair. You can get clues whether someone
is visual, auditorial, or kinesthetic from the
kind of language that they use. And one of the
things I want to go ahead and point out is that
for visual thinkers, you'll usually hear the
phrase like... I don't see what you mean, or
let me get the picture straight in my mind for
what you're talking about. Because they're trying
to picture what you're telling them. They want
to understand it. I have a cousin who's that
way. He can draw, he can create amazing artwork,
but if he can't visualize what you're trying
to tell him to do, it's harder for him to come
up with it. An auditorial thinker is someone
who is more likely to say along the lines, I
hear what you're saying, and I understand. I
think I got it. Because you can explain it to
them and they can hear what you're saying and
come up with that picture from just the words.
A kinesthetic learner is a person, on the other
hand, where it's like you tell them something
sad or awful. It's usually akin to people being
sympathetic. They're like, oh, wow, I feel your
pain. I'm so sorry. Let me give you a hug. And
they just give you a hug because they can feel.
what's going on. They can understand the emotion
and everything going on around it. So that's
a thing right there. Let's see here. Now, there
are practical implications of learning styles.
There's no question that each of us has particular
preferences for how we learn. And this is equally
with little... A little doubt that we all have
slightly different things that we are good at,
which may or may not be related to our learning
styles. The original theory suggests that we
should tailor learning experiences to fit our
preferred learning style. Unfortunately, there
are a huge number of theories of learning styles
out there and very little evidence that teaching
in a particular style is beneficial for a particular
type of learning. Okay, so even though a major
study looking into the VAC model of learning
style has been made and suggested that in order
to prove that it was useful in teaching, you
would need to have studies that group students
by learning style and then taught each group
in different ways. They would need to be teaching
methods that work best for every single style
and type of learner. And that didn't work for
any of the others whatsoever. And the review
authors concluded that there had almost been
no study that did this. No one's ever tried this.
It's been thought of, it's been considered, but
no one's actually attempted to pull this off.
So the jury therefore... It's still out there
on whether teaching should be tailored to learning
styles. However, just because there's no evidence
from the formal study does not mean that considering
your learning style is not worthwhile. As long
as you understand where you need to be and how
you learn, that's all that really matters. Knowledge
of learning styles may help you identify the
different ways of learning that might be enjoyable
or better for you. For example. Activists. Okay.
Activist ways of learning include brainstorming,
practical experimentation, role plays, group
discussions, problem solving. I'm not that major
category. I can use that, but it's not the main
one that I'm able to use. Pragmatic or pragmatists.
They study styles. The study style includes case
studies, time to think, the practical applications
of what you are learning, being able to apply
it. Reflector style learning. Includes spending
time reading around the subject and watching
others try to figure it out and learning from
their experiences. Let's tend to how that one
works. And then theorists. The theorist involves
models, theories, plenty of background information.
By the time they're done, you have a full on
project. Okay. If they're doing that, then that's
probably the category that they fall in. Understanding
that there are different ways of learning help
everybody out in the long run and helps them
figure out where they need to be. So let me see
here. I'm going to look up something. Give me
a sec. Okay. I think I got it. All right. So
understanding that there are different ways of
learning, that learning ideally happens in a
cycle, helps you to vary your learning experiences.
in itself is likely to improve your ability to
learn and to retain information. If you find
that there are particular types of teachings
or learnings that don't suit you, don't be afraid
to tailor your experiences a bit. If you're considering
a course, whether for long -term study, or short
-term learning, you may want to phone the person
organizing it and discuss the types of learning
that they're going to do. Because it may be that
you could avoid certain aspects of it, or the
tutor may be able to suggest a more appropriate
course for you depending on the style of learning
that you have. However, if you're unable to choose
your experiences, you can always try to adapt
and there's a way to do it. For example, if you're
struggling, What sitting in a lecture, listening
to someone talk, don't be tempted to abandon
the experience. Instead, try making it into something
else. Take notes, draw a picture such as a mind
map to help you remember it more visually or
organize discussion sessions afterward over.
What's that thing that called it? People drink
in the morning coffee with others to consider
the way of learning in different ways. If your
course is exam examination based and you'll need
to think. about how you're going to revise the
subject matter. For example, you may like lectures,
but you want to revise by reading over your notes.
Maybe you should ask your lecturer if you can
record the lecture or perhaps read your notes
onto a digital recorder, play it back for yourself.
Then you can play out your notes afterward and
listen to them again and revise them later. So
that's a possibility. Overall, in conjunction
with everything I said, to resummarize it, learn
and adapt. That's the whole point of this, okay?
The science of learning styles is still a bit
hazy, okay? And there's the distinct lack of
evidence about whether teaching and learning
should be tailored rigidly to suit learning styles.
However, There is, however, no doubt that varying
learning experiences helps everyone stay interested.
Teachers, pupils alike, doesn't matter. Even
if there are elements of your chosen course which
do not particularly suit you, just bear with
it. Different experiences will broaden your ability
to learn in different ways, which is always going
to be helpful. I'm not saying don't improve on
the one that you have. I'm saying... Try to learn
the other methods and how they work for you and
how to make them work for you so that you're
not locked to one learning style and you sit
there suffering in your classes, okay? That's
basically the gist of what I've been trying to
say, I guess, this entire time. But, yeah, that's
the whole idea. All right. I'm going to go ahead
and thank you guys for listening in and being
part of this podcast. Whoops. And being here
with me today for the first time, I'm trying
to record this. I know there's a lot of flaws
and things not working like it should, but we
should be able to get it going hopefully soon
and everything should be working like it should.
All right. I'll talk to you guys later. Enjoy
the rest of your day. This has been food for
thought thoughts. If it were you, I'm your host,
Nia Jen tricks. Have a great day. Thank you.