My preferred learning style... I don't have one!!!

Eyes, ears and sense of touch play an important role in the way people communicate, see reality and relate to others. A person learns best and communicates best with people who have a similar learning style to that individual. Because of this, I thought that it was important to look at my learning style.

Today I sat down and tested myself to see if I was better at learning in a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic style. These modalities (sensory channels) all have different characteristics.

I answered a series of questions from a learning styles checklist rating a number of sentences with a number from 1-5. 5 was almost always and 1 was almost never. After completing the three sections the total was out of 250 points of which I scored 229.

After looking back at the three sections I found that I had no preferred learning style as all of the sections has a difference in range of 5 points. This would therefore suggest that I have many of the qualities for all three learning styles and can learn effectively bu using my different sensory channels.

This i feel is my strongest and preferred learning style as when I do find that I do favour looking at graphics and pictures. I also find it easier to learn from bullet points rather than a whole block of text. It makes it easier for me to keep my interest focused and when making notes I use this technique.

Some other points that I have noticed when looking at how visual people learn is that they have advanced planning, good spelling, note detail and are meticulous. These are all qualities that I feel I have, however I am not quiet by nature and do not enjoy reading in my spare time.

During my time in education I have found that I find it easier to use 'cue' words, colour codes, charts, maps and illustrations to aid my learning. I also have a tendency to use mnemonics, acronyms, visual chains an mind maps. Again these are all strong and suggested aids for how a visual learner best learns.

I also have some auditory qualities as I like to memorise by using steps in a sequence, which is why I find bullet points easy to read. I also remember faces and can be distracted sometimes. This is something that I need to work on, and find that listening to music when in a room full of people channels my focus better and I am able to gt my head down to the task in hand.
Auditory learners also make up rhymes and poems to aid there learning, and when trying to focus on very academic work I too do this.

Furthermore, I have several kinaesthetic characteristics but feel that these relate more to me as a person rather than my preferred learning style in an academic sense. I am willing to try new things, dress for comfort and express my emotions through a physical means. With regard to academic I am not a poor speller. When I have a lot of things to do I also ind myself making a to do list, as I feel that this gives me a sense of self accomplishment when I have completed the tasks. As with the other two learning styles kinaesthetic learners too use mnemonics, which is where my learning styles overlap.