Teaching Styles and Learning Styles at Pine Technical College

One helpful hint to think of when designing your college classes is to consider that many people prefer to learn with a specific learning style.  For example, Auditory learners prefer to learn through listening, Visual learners through seeing, and Tactile learners through moving, doing and touching.

In September 15, CTL hosted a lively discussion about learning styles at Pine Tech.  17 faculty members came to the session to learn about learning styles and explore how learning styles can be applied to one's teaching style. The lively discussion was intersting and informative, with faculty members giving examples of how they teach in order to best reach students.

What was the consensus?  That all students will be more likely to learn if faculty members mix their classroom presentations to address all of the learning styles.

Here are some examples:

• In an American Sign Language class, students get up and move around the room, and practice with their classmates.(Appeals to tactile learners and visual learners.)
• A biology instructor annotates her PowerPoint classroom presentations with her own voice and makes the lessons available to students. (Appeals to visual and auditory learners.)
• A nursing instructor demonstrates a procedure while explaining it, then students follow by practicing. (Appeals to all three learning styles.)

Learn more about learning styles and how to use them at this website.