Lesson 2: Types of Learners

Watch the video
TEDx - Josh Kaufman; The first 20 hours

We will watch the cut down version in class
Josh Kaufman: How to speed learn in 5 simple steps

Learning Theories and styles

Pedagogy / Andragogy

"You can conclude from the above that pedagogy is a child-focused teaching approach, whereas andragogy an adult-focused teaching approach; or, formally, pedagogy is the art and science of helping kids learn, whereas andragogy the art and science of helping adults learn."
Extract from: https://elearningindustry.com/pedagogy-vs-andragogy-in-elearning-can-you-tell-the-difference

Read the above article on Pedagogy versus Andragogy.
PLUS the article on 8 important characteristics of adult learners

This is a great chart on the differences between Pedagogy and Andragogy

Class Activity 1

As Adult learners, do you think adults learn differently to children? How or Why?

Do the 8 characteristics apply to yourself as a learner?

Learning Theories

There are a number of Learning Theories that have been developed over time and that address various aspects of how people learn. Before we start to design our training sessions, it is important to know that there are different types of learners, with each type responding better to a particular teaching method.


A list of learning theories
http://www.aussieeducator.org.au/education/other/theories.html

A list of learning and teaching styles
http://www.aussieeducator.org.au/education/styles.html

Bloom

From Wikipedia:

"Bloom's taxonomy refers to a classification of the different objectives that educators set for students (learning objectives). It divides educational objectives into three "domains": cognitive, affective, and psychomotor (sometimes loosely described as "knowing/head", "feeling/heart" and "doing/hands" respectively). Within the domains, learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels. A goal of Bloom's taxonomy is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains, creating a more holistic form of education.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfp3x_qx5IM


https://elearningbunch.wordpress.com/2013/02/20/revised-bloom-taxonomy/

Class Activity 2

Discuss Blooms Taxonomy. Are his classifications correct or have some merit?

Why did it need to be updated?

Social Cognitive Theory

One of the core concepts of SCT is that learning occurs through observation. Teachers, parents and peers can all act as models for the students to observe and learn behaviour.

Watch the video on SCT

https://youtu.be/5NbTU1EivJs

Class Activity 3

What are the advantages and disadvantages of SCT?

Experiential Learning

In the early 1970s, Kolb and Ron Fry (now both at the Weatherhead School of Management) developed the Experiential Learning Model (ELM) composed of four elements:

•     concrete experience,
•     observation of and reflection on that experience,
•     formation of abstract concepts based upon the reflection,
•     testing the new concepts

https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-experiential-learning-definition-theories-examples.html

Class Activity 4

What are the advantages of experiential learning?

VARK Model

The acronym VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Read/write, and Kinesthetic sensory modalities that are used for learning information.

http://vark-learn.com/introduction-to-vark/ 

The vark-learn website has a number of introductory videos/interviews that explain the vark model and its origins.

Here is another summary of vark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRWnz7tppWk

Class Activity 5

How do you learn? Take the test to find out how you learn best using the VARK model

http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

Share your results and whether you think it is accurate or not

This is what I got:
Visual 5
Aural 2
Read/Write 7
Kinesthetic 8
You have a multimodal learning preference. (VRK)

Class Activity 6

Thinking about VARK, give a couple of examples of learner resources for each learning style for the following learning activities:

• Learning how to change a tyre on a car
• How to create a database using MS Access
• How to prepare a job application with key selection criteria

Which of these would best suit you as a learner? Does it match up with your results from the VARK questionnaire?

Learner characteristics

To finish up, let's consider the characteristics of different learners and how those characteristics will affect the way that they learn.

https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/5-3-learner-characteristics/

http://theelearningcoach.com/learning/characteristics-of-adult-learners/