Sandy Loucks Moderated Discussion in Moodle for

Educ760

Learning Styles and Personality Traits

by Sandy Loucks - Tuesday, 30 June 2015, 3:40 PM

An important element in teaching is to address the unique learning styles and

personalities of each student in our classroom. What is the relationship between
Kolb's four learning styles (p. 140 in our textbook Lessons from the Virtual
Classroom) and Meyers Briggs Personality Types? Or Kolb's learning styles and
the behavior traits of Disc Theory? Is there another set of classifications that relate
to Kolb's learning styles? How do you address these in an online learning
environment?

Re: Learning Styles and Personality Traits

by M - Thursday, 2 July 2015, 12:44 PM

Sandy, you ask:

Is there another set of classifications that relate to Kolb's learning styles?

James Zull (2002) argues that the building blocks for our foundation of learning are the sensory,
reflective, abstracting and acting brain. Those parts are used through experience, hypothesis,
reflection and active testing. Zulls Four Pillars of Learning (2002) follow Kolbs Learning
Cycle. Zulls model is explained in this interview: The Art of Changing the Brain: Interview
with Dr. James Zull

According to Zull, teachers should create opportunities for students to transform information
which came from their past into their future. Rathunde and Csikszentmihalyi (2005) found that
student centered curriculums, such as the Montessori curriculum, supported this transformation
of learning.

Power was yielded to the learner and this curriculum allowed students to be self-directed and
self-motivated. In other words, these students had goals and took ownership of their
learning. They took the time to integrate their learning in ways that made sense to them and
their experience and their learning style.

This fits so well with online learning and what we do here in this class. Students have choices
about what resources they will read and reference for their discussions. They also have choices to
create the deliverables to suit their needs. This yields power to the learner.
This also fits with the weekly reflection, which is an opportunity for students to think about their
new learning and integrate it with their prior knowledge, to make changes in the future.

M in sunny Chicago

Sources:

Rathunde, K., & CsikszentmihalyiM. (2005). Middle school students' motivation and quality of
experience: A comparison of montessori and traditional school environments [Electronic
Version]. American Journal of Education, 111(3), 341-371.

Zull, J. E. (2002). The art of changing the brain: Enriching the practice of teaching by
exploring the biology of learning. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

Learning Styles and Stages of Learning

by Sandy Loucks - Thursday, 2 July 2015, 4:15 PM

M,

Thank you for that link to the interview with James Zull. I really appreciate what
he is saying about how too many people still believe that Education means the
process by which students passively absorb information (Zull 2000) and his
suggestions for how a successful teacher would work differently with an
introverted student than with a more extroverted student within those Four Stages
of Learning since these types of students can get stuck in, or prefer, certain stages.

You compare Zulls Four Stages of Learning with Kolbs four learning styles.

Zulls Four Pillars of Zulls Four Stages of Kolbs four learning styles
Learning Learning

1. Concrete 1. Converger
1. Gathering experience 2. Diverger
2. Analyzing 2. Reflective 3. Assimilator
 3. Creating observation 4. Accommodator
4. Acting 3. Abstract
hypothesis
4. Active testing

Zulls pillars are related to stages which, to me, means that each person goes
through each stage or engages in each pillar in an order, in order to learn some
material. I believe Im beginning to see how they are related to learning styles, but
can you tell me more about your thoughts behind this? Can you say more about
how they are related?

Sandy curious in Eagle, WI

Re: Learning Styles and Stages of Learning

by M - Thursday, 2 July 2015, 10:51 PM

Sandy,

Convergers ask "how?" They need to think and do or "act" as Zull would say.
Divergers ask "why?" They need to sense feel and watch or "gather" as Zull would say.
Accommodators ask "if?".They need to feel and do or "act" as Zull would say.
Assimilators ask "what?" They need to "create" as Zull would say.
This is a great RLO (Reusable Learning Object) about how an instructor guides his students in
reflective writing. There's good information about Kolb here and as you view you'll even see a
picture that resembles our "Three What Model" for the weekly reflections:

Reflective Writing RLO

M, reflecting in Chicago
Same Idea, Different Words
by Sandy Loucks - Friday, 3 July 2015, 10:18 PM

M,

Thank you for that RLO link. Good ideas there, and also a really helpful
illustration of how Zull's ideas and Kolb's ides are related.

Starting in 5th grade and building through 6th and 7th, I put reflection into our
work. That's really when I could see where the student was in their understanding
of the material and helps to show the student that his learning is in his hands. It's
an essential part of the learning cycle that I don't always see in classrooms.

Sandy - reflecting in Eagle, WI

Re: Same Idea, Different Words

by N - Saturday, 4 July 2015, 6:52 AM

Sandy,

I am interested in hearing more about how you use reflection with the middle school students. It
seems like an excellent match with where they are at developmentally. I think they really need
that personal connect part of learning. Are you using this in a physical classroom or online? Do
you think medium does or doesn't really matter?

Re: Learning Styles and Personality Traits

by B - Friday, 3 July 2015, 2:53 PM

I would like to thank you for that interview with Dr. Zull as well! I like the way he frames the
learning process with brain biology, which is something I'm very interested in. I teach in a high
poverty school and living in a high poverty environment changes the way the brain physically
operates and processes information. As a result I'm always curious as to how those changes
impact the learning process and what I can do to accommodate those changes for my students.

-B
The brain & learning
by M - Friday, 3 July 2015, 10:01 PM

B,

You mentioned the Zull article. My master's degree focus was on educational neuroscience and
cognitive enhancement tehcnologies. I could talk about the brain all day! Here'a link to my
Scoop.it magazine calledLearning, Brain & Cognitive Fitness. I pulled all the poverty articles
within the magazine here's a link. Scoop.it Povertty/Brain and here's a link to my Scoop.it
magazine about Cognitive Enhancement Technologies.

By the way, you will be creating and curating your own Scoop.it magazine in Module 6!

M, getting ready for the fourth!

Oh and here's an interesting article with short video about a teacher who uses brain-based
techniques in the classroom:

Teachers Tap in to Brain Science

Are labels important?

by S - Thursday, 2 July 2015, 1:07 PM

Learning the unique learning style and personality of each student is much easier face-to-face
than virtually. Without the ability to see non-verbal cues, etc. it is hard to classify students in the
virtual world. I realize that this is a graduate level class and while its important to be aware and
read different perspectives, for me it comes down to investing the time to get to know each
student. At the beginning of the course I have a quick pre-assessment that includes questions
about learning styles, but have found it most insightful when I have students reflect on their
work. In general, they are quick to admit this was hard for me because... or I liked it when To
get the best results, these reflections need to have teacher feedback. Ill admit it is a large task,
but students want to know they are not being asked to complete busy work. Even a small
investment by you, will open the door for them to more freely share what works best for them;
therefore, making it easier to meet their needs. Please let me know, do you feel that some
teachers rely too heavy on these labels?

S from RVA

Re: Are labels important?

by Sandy Loucks - Friday, 3 July 2015, 10:34 PM
In the school I've been at for 18 years, I have seen a couple teachers rely very
heavily on them and I did worry about the students in their class because even
though a student has a preferred learning style, that doesn't mean that they are only
that learning style. At the same time, even if they are staunchly that learning style,
it's good for them to branch out and experience other styles to help them balance
their learning. Most teachers, though, I've seen use these labels as a starting place.

I'm curious about your comment that "to get the best results, these reflections need
to have teacher feedback." Are you meaning an evaluative feedback to try to get
the student to write more or more clearly or just a response to something they say?

Re: Learning Styles and Personality Traits

by B - Friday, 3 July 2015, 2:43 PM

When I was an undergrad working on a student housing staff we took the Meyers-Briggs
instrument as a staff, I really liked it because it gave insight in to how to work with other people.
While the psychological value of the MBTI is questionable, I still think it helped me understand
my coworkers.

Meyers-Briggs
by Sandy Loucks - Friday, 3 July 2015, 10:48 PM

Hi B,

I, too, discovered this as an undergraduate and have found it helpful when working
with other adults. Can you see it at being useful with teaching students online?

Re: Learning Styles and Personality Traits

by N - Saturday, 4 July 2015, 6:28 AM

Sandy,

Thinking about the Meyers Briggs created a bit an internal debate for me. I think it is very
helpful to consider the different personality types and how students learn. I remember taking this
test myself many years ago and I had mixed reactions. However, I also think there is value in
these types of tools if they are used to help us get to know our students. You mentioned the
downside when they are used as labels and I think that's something we always need to keep in
mind.
 I am going to spend some additonal time with the other resources that came out of this
discussion. I am very interested in the research that Maggie is sharing about the brain. My hope
is that we will be using more of that going forward to guide how we teach. I think it is the next
step in the progression of assessing how students learn. It will probably help us move beyond the
labels that have been potential pitfalls of what we've used in the past. Thanks for generating this
discussion thread.

Seeing the uniqueness in each person

by Sandy Loucks - Saturday, 4 July 2015, 8:08 AM

I, too, have been going back and forth considering the usefulness of these types of
tools. I think the biggest value of them is that they bring to our consciousness that
each person is different. We don't need tools to show us those differences; we can
figure them out on our own. As Steve mentioned, it is harder to get to know these
differences when we are not meeting face-to-face, so some sort of survey or
birography work might be helpful.

Thanks for your thoughtful additions. It was an interesting discussion. Everyone

brought some interesting thoughts and resources to the table.

Sandy