Felder Silverman Learning Model test

Your Score

You received a score of 4/7 for your ACT/REF.

You received a score of 1/10 for your SEN/INT.

You received a score of 8/3 for your VIS/VRB.

You received a score of 3/8 for your SEQ/GLO.

LEARNING STYLE SCALES

How to interpret your score ...

Let us say, for instance, that you received a score of 5/1 for your ACT/REF. This would mean that you are leaning more toward being an active learner than a reflective learner ...

Keep these general guidelines in mind when interpreting your score ...

• If your score on a scale is 1-3, you are fairly well balanced on the two dimensions of that scale. For instance, a score of 2/1 for your SEN/INT would indicate that although you lean a little more towards being a sensing learner than an intuitive learner, you are balanced between the two.


• If your score on a scale is 5 or 7, you have a moderate preference for one dimension of the scale and will learn more easily in a teaching environment which favors that dimension. For instance, a score of 1/6 for your VIS/VRB indicates that you are a verbal learner and much less a visual learner.
  
  
• If your score on a scale is 9 or 11, you have a very strong preference for one dimension of the scale. You may have real difficulty learning in an environment which does not support that preference. For instance, a score of 11/0 for your SEQ/GLO would indicate that you prefer to learn sequentially over globally.

Comment:

The above says I have a moderate preference for being a reflective learner. A strong preference for being an intuitive learner. A moderately strong preference for being a visual and global learner. I guess I'd agree with that in general. I certainly like to reflect on things and like to think about the 'big picture' and need that to make sense to have lightbulb moments. I flit from place to place mentally until I 'get' the details of what it is I'm trying to understand. I hate trying to learn umpteen facts by rote and need to be able to relate what I'm learning to me and my life to help make sense of it. But... I do also like to diagram my ideas and adore things like maps etc for making sense of things so I'm not totally a verbal learner either.

I found the test answers somewhat restrictive and leading in parts. They didn't quite 'fit' me and the nearest answer wasn't even a 'best fit' either. There was no 'both' option for the points at which I genuinely couldn't differentiate and ended up having to plump for answer because the test wouldn't let me progress without doing so. For example, the question asking whether I prefer to study in a study group or alone - I just couldn't make up my mind. I study alone when I need or have the opportunity to study alone. If I have the opportunity to study in a group or need to... then I do.

Just shows. These tests give a flavour of you, but they don't give the whole picture. Even years of psychoanalysis and parting with hefty wads of cash wouldn't truly do that... would it?!

Further links:
http://www.crc4mse.org/ILS/self_test.html - the test itself
http://www.crc4mse.org/ILS/ILS_explained.html - for explanation of the results

Learning styles classification systems

Based on the summary from 'How do People Learn', CiPD, 2007 - but with a few additional resources thrown in for good measure!

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator©
This model classifies learners according to their preferences on scales derived from psychologist Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types: extraverts or introverts; sensors or intuitors; thinkers or feelers; judgers or perceivers

For more detailed information see:
http://www.aptcentral.org/aptmbtiw.htm
www.gsu.edu/~dschjb/wwwmbti.html
http://members.tripod.com/~PersonalityInstitute/Myers-BriggsTypeIndictor.htm
http://www.myersbriggs.org/

Felder-Silverman Learning Model
This classification has five categories – sensing or intuitive learners; visual or verbal learners; inductive or deductive learners; active or reflective learners; sequential or global learners

For more detailed information see:
http://www.universaleducator.com/LearnStyle/felder.html
http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSpage.html

Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument
This method classifies learners in terms of their relative preferences for thinking in four different modes – left brain cerebral (logical thinkers); left brain limbic (sequential thinkers); right brain limbic (emotional thinkers); right brain cerebral (holistic thinkers)

For more detailed information see:
http://www.universaleducator.com/LearnStyle/brain.html

Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory
This classifies learners as having a preference for (a) concrete experience or abstract conceptualisation, or (b) active experimentation or reflective observation

For more detailed information see:
http://www.universaleducator.com/LearnStyle/kolb.html
http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-explrn.htm

Honey and Mumford’s Classification
Developed from the Kolb’s inventory and learning cycle this model has four components – activists; reflectors; pragmatists; theorists

For more detailed information see:
http://www.peterhoney.com

(“Learning in Practice”, CiPD, p.44, 2007)

What John said...

The lovely John Millner asked a really interesting question in our H806 tutor group about whether or not instruction was akin to behaviourism. I’ve had a mull and the following was my resulting ponderings on his question…

John Millner writes:
“Im doing the reading on behaviourism, and am having difficulty understanding why instruction per se is regarded as a stimulus/reward process. Up to now I would have thought that attending a traditional lecture was an example of learning as understanding (ie, in the cognitive camp) but apparently it is more about behaviour modification thru instruction, and therefore in the behaviourist camp.
can anyone help me out here?”

Me in response:
“The CiPD report “How do People Learn”, p.17, says that:

"Practice takes the form of question (stimulus)-answer (response) frames that expose the learner to the topic in gradual steps. The learner is conditioned to make a response each time and receives immediate feedback. Learning is ordered in stages of difficulty so that the response to each step is likely to be correct; thus offering opportunities from positive reinforcement. Progress is achieved in small incremental steps and is 'shaped' towards a positive outcome".

If you think about a typical 'stand at the front and spout' lecture, the lecturer is drip, drip, dripping information at the students. They might ask a question which they expect a particular response to in order to continue the lecture. This is positive reinforcement. The students are being conditioned to respond in a particular way which is deemed behaviourally appropriate by the incremental accummulation of knowledge and the questions which are set to test that knowledge. The response consequence is the 'correct' answer achieved. There is a power relationship there as well. The lecturer lectures the students. It isn't the students lecturing, is it? Someone has the knowledge. Someone else doesn't. The book describes the behaviourist approach as having the focus on the expert - the lecturer is the 'expert' in this context. However, other types of learning such as social learning can happen outside the lecture theatre context, for example, chatting things over with others in the Student Union etc - so although there may be behaviourist aspects to the traditional lecture, the university environment affords the application of several different types of learning.

I get the impression that all of these types of learning are not distinct learning events but can flow into and out of one another. If you view a lecture as not belonging in the behaviourist camp, it's probably because its effectiveness was heightened by mixing it with other contexts and muddying the waters of why a particular learning theory was in place at any point. But that's probably just my blurry ideas on what it's all about... or something!”

Anyway, my feeling is that this sort of reflection on what I’ve read may be useful. Not least because I’m prone to hefty shifts in thinking having had a think about someone else’s perspective on a topic! Will keep on chewing it over. :o)