Education: VARK Research Articel

The education is seen to be challenging, since the students are anticipated to gain the vast knowledge inside a short period of time. To attain massive amounts of knowledge, the students and the teachers have to understand learning styles, preferences, and strategies. Different students have a extensive range of the diversities in their learning preferences. The major distinction is due to the different ways of absorbing and retaining information that exists among learners. The learning styles refer to the records achieved by gathering, processing, interpreting, organizing and thinking. This paper seeks to explore my gaining knowledge of style as a student. It also touches on how the understanding of my studying style influences my view on education. Also, it discusses how the awareness of the learning styles affects both teaching and learning.

The VARK analysis categorizes the learning styles into four: Visual, Aural, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic (VARK: A Guide to Learning Styles, 2017, section 1). The learning preferences may either be unimodal or multimodal. In unimodal one, the preference is given to only one learning style. Speaking of multimodal kind, the preference is shared between the two or more learning styles. I belong to a multimodal group of students, since I strongly prefer a variety of the learning styles as opposed to one style. Among my multimodal learning style preferences, Aural, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic styles are predominant. The strategies that are employed are the auditory, the reading and the kinesthetic strategies. The auditory strategies include listening to the lectures and seminars. The reading and writing strategies include the reading material written on chalkboards, textbooks, and handouts. The kinesthetic strategies include the laboratory experiments, playing roles and going for the field trips.

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Understanding that my preferred learning style is Aural strongly influences my view of learning in a variety of ways. Firstly, as an auditory learner, I prefer to process the information by listening to the lectures and seminars. In my process of the learning, I prefer to listen and write a few summaries or outlines of the course material given in my own words. My attention, comprehension, and motivation are significantly increased when a teacher applies some audio notes in their teaching practice. My personal score increases by listening to the audio recorded videos and tapes when handling certain assignments.

The auditory learners employ various strategies such as listening to the others as they talk, repeating the instructions loudly, and recording the ideas (The VARK Questionnaire, 2017, section 1). Similarly, my approach includes the recording of the lectures with using of my mobile phone and listening to the audio books instead of reading the entire text. Like the other aural learners, I enjoy the PowerPoint presentations accompanied with the audio narratives as well as the storytelling and debating. Whereas some auditory learners perceive the aural learning style as a monolog and quite a passive way of learning, I see it as a dialogue and a very active way of learning.

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A vivid awareness of the different learning styles, preferences and strategies is among the most significant roles of a teacher that must not be underestimated in any way. Teachers play a crucial role in the development of the learner, since they have the responsibility of being the facilitators of learning to the students. The teachers have the opportunity to help the students to make the right choices as to how best to improve their learning. Being aware that their students learn in quite different ways, the teachers will vary their teaching approaches to suit the needs of every learner. In addition, by knowing that what works for one student might not work for another, the teachers will strongly broaden their styles and identify what their weaknesses are in their teaching practicing and approaches. When the teachers understand the learning preferences of their students, they are then in a much better position to motivate them to work on their weaknesses.

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When the learners know and are aware of their learning styles, they can then assess and determine their strengths and weaknesses as well. They can then use their strengths in a positive way to improve their effectiveness and efficiency as the learners. The learners, in turn, who are aware of their preferences, as a result, will be able to immerse themselves in the new experiences that will foster their learning very much. Also, a student who is aware of his/her learning preferences will be an observant and will seek to learn the skills and practices of his models. The student will then apply what he has gained from the role models. Understanding the various learning strategies will help a learner to be creative and innovative for problem-solving and decision-making in future everyday life. The knowledge of the learning strategies helps a student to put the learned skills into practice in the day to day activities which is much more important than a pure theory itself.

My preferred learning style is the aural learning that appeals to the sense of hearing. When the teachers adopt the auditory strategies in our classes, I am strongly motivated to participate in the discussions. By exposing the learners to their learning styles, their preferences and strategies early, they can achieve any possible success in their academic movements. The exposure helps a student to attain the highest level of an education with the minimal amount of an effort made. The teachers should adopt the innovative teaching methods that cater to the multimodal students and make the classroom more interactive and stimulating for learning.

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References

Balasubramaniam, G., & Indhu, K. (2016). A Study of Learning Style Preferences among First Year Undergraduate Medical Students Using VARK Model. Education in Medicine Journal, 8(4), 15-21. doi:10.5959/eimj.v8i4.440

VARK Learn Limited. (2017). The VARK Questionnaire How Do I Learn Best? Web site retrieved from: http://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/

VARK Learn Limited. (2017). VARK: A Guide to Learning Styles Web site retrieved from: http://vark-learn.com/