Unformatted text preview: 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success College Success
Learning Styles and Strategies The Learning Process -… 1/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success The learning process is something you
can incite, literally incite, like a riot. —Audre Lorde, writer and civil rights activist LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to:
Identify the stages of the learning process
Define learning styles, and identify your preferred learning style(s)
Define multimodal learning
Describe how you might apply your preferred learning
strategies to classroom scenarios -… 2/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success Stages of the Learning Process
Consider experiences you’ve had with learning something new, such
as learning to tie your shoes or drive a car. You probably began by showing interest in the process, and after some struggling it became second
nature. These experiences were all part of the learning process, which
can be described in the four stages:
1. Unconscious incompetence: This will likely be the easiest learning
stage—you don’t know what you don’t know yet. During this stage,
a learner mainly shows interest in something or prepares for learning. For example, if you wanted to learn how to dance, you
might watch a video, talk to an instructor, or sign up for a future
class. Stage 1 might not take long.
2. Conscious incompetence: This stage can be the most difficult for
learners, because you begin to register how much you need to
learn—you know what you don’t know. Think about the saying “It’s
easier said than done.” In stage 1 the learner only has to discuss or
show interest in a new experience, but in stage 2, he or she
begins to apply new skills that contribute to reaching the learning
goal. In the dance example above, you would now be learning basic dance steps. Successful completion of this stage relies on
practice.
3. Conscious competence: You are beginning to master some parts
of the learning goal and are feeling some confidence about what
you do know. For example, you might now be able to complete basic dance steps with few mistakes and without your instructor reminding you how to do them. Stage 3 requires skill repetition.
4. Unconscious competence: This is the final stage in which learners
have successfully practiced and repeated the process they learned
so many times that they can do it almost without thinking. At this
point in your dancing, you might be able to apply your dance skills
to a freestyle dance routine that you create yourself. However, to
feel you are a “master” of a particular skill by the time you reach -… 3/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success stage 4, you still need to practice constantly and reevaluate which
stage you are in so you can keep learning. For example, if you now
felt confident in basic dance skills and could perform your own
dance routine, perhaps you’d want to explore other kinds of dance,
such as tango or swing. That would return you to stage 1 or 2, but
you might progress through the stages more quickly this time on
account of the dance skills you acquired earlier. [1]
Take a moment to watch the following video by Kristos called The
Process of Learning. As you watch, consider how painful it can be—literally!—to learn something new, but also how much joy can be experienced after it’s learned. Note that the video has no audio. The Process of Learning - Kristos Kyle was excited to take a beginning Spanish class to prepare for a
semester abroad in Spain. Before his first vocabulary quiz, he reviewed his notes many times. Kyle took the quiz, but when he got the
results, he was surprised to see that he had earned a B-, despite
having studied so much. Kyle’s professor suggested that he experiment with different ways of -… 4/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success studying. For example, in addition to studying his written notes, he
might listen to a tape of the vocabulary words, as well. Identifying Learning Styles
Many of us, like Kyle, are accustomed to very traditional learning styles
as a result of our experience as K–12 students. For instance, we can all
remember listening to a teacher talk, and copying notes off the chalkboard. However, when it comes to learning, one size doesn’t fit all. People have different learning styles and preferences, and these can
vary from subject to subject. For example, while Kyle might prefer listening to recordings to help him learn Spanish, he might prefer hands-on
activities like labs to master the concepts in his biology course. But what
are learning styles, and where does the idea come from?
Learning styles are also called learning modalities. Walter Burke Barbe
and his colleagues proposed the following three learning modalities (often identified by the acronym VAK):
1. Visual
2. Auditory
3. Kinesthetic
Examples of these modalities are shown in the table, below. Visual Kinesthetic Auditory Picture Gestures Listening Shape Body Movements Rhythms Sculpture Object Manipulation Tone Paintings Positioning Chants Neil Fleming’s VARK model expanded on the three modalities described
above and added “Read/Write Learning” as a fourth. -… 5/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success The four sensory modalities in Fleming’s model are:
1. Visual learning
2. Auditory learning
3. Read/write learning
4. Kinesthetic learning
Fleming claimed that visual learners have a preference for seeing (visual
aids that represent ideas using methods other than words, such as
graphs, charts, diagrams, symbols, etc.). Auditory learners best learn
through listening (lectures, discussions, tapes, etc.). Read/write learners
have a preference for written words (readings, dictionaries, reference
works, research, etc.) Tactile/kinesthetic learners prefer to learn via experience—moving, touching, and doing (active exploration of the world,
science projects, experiments, etc.).
The VAK/VARK models can be a helpful way of thinking about different
learning styles and preferences, but they are certainly not the last word
on how people learn or prefer to learn. Many educators consider the distinctions useful, finding that students benefit from having access to a
blend of learning approaches. Others find the idea of three or four
“styles” to be distracting or limiting.
In the college setting, you’ll probably discover that instructors teach their
course materials according to the method they think will be most effective for all students. Thus, regardless of your individual learning preference, you will probably be asked to engage in all types of learning. For
instance, even though you consider yourself to be a “visual learner,” you
will still probably have to write papers in some of your classes. Research
suggests that it’s good for the brain to learn in new ways and that learning in different modalities can help learners become more well-rounded.
Consider the following statistics on how much content students absorb
through different learning methods:
10 percent of content they read
20 percent of content they hear -… 6/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success 30 percent of content they visualize
50 percent of what they both visualize and hear
70 percent of what they say
90 percent of what they say and do
The range of these results underscores the importance of mixing up the
ways in which you study and engage with learning materials. ACTIVITY: IDENTIFYING PREFERRED LEARNING
STYLES Objective Define learning styles, and recognize your preferred
learning style(s)
Directions Now it’s time to consider your preferred learning
style(s). Take the VARK Questionnaire here.
Review the types of learning preferences.
Identify three different classes and describe what types
of activities you typically do in these classes. Which
learning style(s) do these activities relate to?
Describe what you think your preferred learning style(s)
is/are. How do you know?
Explain how you could apply your preferred learning
style(s) to studying.
What might your preferred learning style(s) tell you
about your interests? Consider which subjects and
eventual careers you might like.
Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your
assignment. -… 7/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success Defining Multimodal Learning
While completing the learning-styles activity, you might have
discovered that you prefer more than one learning style. Applying more
than one learning style is known as multimodal learning. This strategy is
useful not only for students who prefer to combine learning styles but
also for those who may not know which learning style works best for
them. It’s also a good way to mix things up and keep learning fun.
For example, consider how you might combine visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic learning styles to a biology class. For visual learning, you
could create flash cards containing images of individual animals and the
species name. For auditory learning, you could have a friend quiz you
on the flash cards. For kinesthetic learning, you could move the flash
cards around on a board to show a food web (food chain).
The following video will help you review the types of learning styles and
see how they might relate to your study habits: Discover Your Learning Style … The next assignment can help you extend and apply what you’ve
learned about multimodal learning to current classes and studying. ACTIVITY: APPLYING LEARNING STYLES TO CLASS -… 8/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success Objectives Define multimodal learning
Apply your preferred learning styles to classroom
scenarios
Directions Review the three main learning styles and the definition
of multimodal learning.
Identify a class you are currently taking that requires
studying.
Describe how you could study for this class using visual,
auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile learning skills.
Follow your instructor’s guidelines for submitting your
activity. -… 9/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success The Learning Process
Which of the following is the stage in the learning process
when you can successfully complete something almost
without even thinking about it.
Conscious incompetence
Unconscious incompetence
Conscious competence
Unconscious competence
How sure are you of your answer?
Just A Guess Pretty Sure Very Sure 1. Mansaray, David. "The Four Stages of Learning: The Path to Becoming an Expert." DavidMansaray.com. 2011. Web. 10 Feb 2016. ↵ … 10/11 8/26/2021 The Learning Process | College Success Previous Next … 11/11 ...
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