Mixing it up for more engagement

Do you accept the argument that people have different learning style preferences and therefore we need to mix it up a bit as teachers so we are not favouring one learning style preference over another?

This notion is build into our assessment policy - section1 - Assessment Principles and Requirements. 

1.1.4 Assessment tasks should be diverse.

Assessment practices should be inclusive and support equity principles, catering for both individual and group diversity. It should be recognised that all assessment models have limitations and a capacity to disadvantage certain students. Every effort should be made to minimise such disadvantage by, for example, using a variety of

 assessment techniques. Inclusive language must be used to avoid gender, racial, cultural or other language bias.

Honey and Mumford (1992) developed a learning styles questionnaire that grouped learning style preferences as

• activists - prefer to do something practical
• reflectors - prefer to read and take time to consider options
• theorist - prefer to read and analyse
• pragmatists - prefer to do something related to the real world. 

Later, Palmer and May (2004) tried to map different online environments on to these learning styles. 

• activists - prefer simulations, discussion groups and noticeboards
• reflectors - prefer online content, multimedia, tasks and research
• theorists - prefer structured content and structured systems
• pragmatists - off-line tasks, focused discussions and just-in-time learning.

Palmer and May then wanted to apply this information to balance assessment - with learners being reassessed in different learning styles. 

The questions this raises for me are many - for example - do I teach to my preferred learning style (pragmatic) as this most the most sense to me? Will the teachers in a program have enough intrinsic variety in their preferred learning styles/teaching that students will get a fair go across a program? Are learning styles a disposition that is shared by many in a professional/discipline group?  With the focus on experiential learning at UniSA - will this curriculum re-design better suit the pragmatist? Is Peter Lee's preferred learning style pragmatic? Does it matter?

Interested in your thoughts...

References

Honey and Mumford (1992)  The Manual of Learning Styles (3rd ed) Maidenhead: Peter Honey. 

Palmer and May (2004) Using learning style theory to improve online learning through computer assisted diagnosis' 8th CAA Conference, http://www.caaconference.com/pastConferences/2004/proceedings/Palmer_May.pdf