My Learning Styles Revisited

In week 1 I described myself as a visual and kinesthetic learner because I learn best by seeing and doing. After 7 weeks of learning about learning theory, I can definitely expand my description of how I see myself learning best. When I explored Edutopia.com for this week’s post, I decided to take “My Learning Style” quiz to see where I scored according to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences. Instead of putting me solidly into one or two categories, I was 50% or above in 6 categories and 33% in each of the remaining 2 categories. My strongest were musical and intrapersonal at 63% each. I was very surprised to see musical as being so strong since I haven’t picked up a clarinet since the 12th grade, but can possibly attribute it to the fact that I am a dancer. It made me evaluate my learning in a whole new way and changed my perception of how I learn best.

The readings that we have been doing over the last several weeks have opened my eyes to the fact that there are many different ways to learn, and calling myself a visual learner is only the tip of the iceberg. The truth is that I personally benefit from many different learning theories and can take bits and pieces out of each one to enhance my personal learning. I am an adult learner because I am self-motivated. Behaviorist theory works too because I always learn from my mistakes and will respond to reinforcement and punishment. Cognitive theory describes me because of the connections I make in my mind when learning a new concept. I am a constructivist when I apply new learning to previous experience and ideas. In my dance classes I observe the steps being taught and imitate them, which allows me to benefit from social learning theory. And finally, we are all connectivists in this class because of our network of online learners. So, I’ve gone from saying that I have a preference for visual and kinesthetic learning to saying that I am a learner who learns best from all methods presented. It really changes the way I evaluate my own teaching and the needs of my students.

I use technology to a great degree in my own learning. I am constantly researching information that I need on the Internet, and am unsure how I survived the days of card catalogs and the Dewey Decimal System. When I create anything from a simple memo to a research paper, Microsoft Word is that tool that I utilize. Power Point presentations are another favorite tool for organizing and presenting information. I even used Garage Band to create my own Podcast for a class I took a few years ago. Technology plays an enormous role in my learning, teaching, and networking. Even though I didn’t use a computer for the first time until I was in the 5th grade, and my mom sent me to the mall with a quarter for the pay phone, I can’t imagine my life today without computers and cell phones. Technology has truly changed our world.