Learning Style. Do you need it?

How do Students Respond to CBL to Suit Modality Learning Preferences?

Razali Hassan
_University of Warwick
razali.hassan@warwick.ac.uk_

_Abstract _
This paper discusses an adaptive multimedia interface which was developed to provide a route through learning material based on an individual student’s learning style. The research explores students’ attitude to CBL and raises issues concerning the nature of Multimedia learning; the value of learning styles inventories; the specific features of computer-based learning; and the strengths and limitations of CBL packages. The study concerns a package which was designed to instruct learners in advanced features of PowerPoint. Four different routes were presented in the material to appeal four learner preferences as Visual, Aural, Reading and Kinaesthetic. The research aims to describe, assess and offer a framework for considering the user response to the material and how well the material adapted to their strongest modality. Data from mix method approaches has been gathered and the results from observations, questionnaire, online testing and interviewing are analysed.

Keywords
E-learning; Computer Based Learning (CBL); Individual Differences; VARK learning styles; Instructional preferences

Point to comment…

• Do you aware with your own Learning style?
• Do you agree without learning style it is easy for you to learn?
• How do you find your own learning style?

: 16 Jun 2007 06:09 |  Tags: Learning Style |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

THE PRICE OF IMAAN

THE PRICE OF IMAAN

Several years ago an imaam moved to London. He often took the bus from his home to the downtown area. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the same bus. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him twenty pence too much change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, 'you better give the twenty pence back. It would be wrong to keep it'.

Then he thought, 'oh forget it, it's only twenty pence. Who would worry about this little amount? Anyway, the bus company already gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a gift from Almighty Allah and keep quiet'.

When his stop came, the Imaam paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the twenty pence back to the driver and said:

"Here, you gave me too much change."

The driver with a smile replied:

"Aren't you the new Imaam in this area? I have been thinking lately about going to worship at your mosque. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change."

When the Imaam stepped off the bus, his knees became weak and soft. He had to grab the nearest light pole and held for support, and looked up to the heavens and cried:

"Oh Allah, I almost sold Islam for twenty pence!"

Bottomline: We may never see the impact our actions have on people… Sometimes we are the only knowledge of the Quran someone will read, or the only Islam a non-Muslim will see. What we need to provide, Insha Allah is an example for others to see. Be careful and be honest everyday, because you never know who is watching your actions.

: 14 Nov 2005 10:20 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Kepentingan makanan kepada fungsi otak (Malay version)

Kepentingan makanan kepada fungsi otak
Nutrien atau zat-zat yang didapati daripada makanan mempengaruhi fungsi otak dan juga kecerdasan otak seseorang. Dalam erti kata lain, otak kita membangun dan boleh berfungsi dengan menggunakan sumber-sumber protein, asid amino, lemak, karbohidrat, vitamin dan garam galian yang diperolehi daripada makanan yang dimakan.

Protein

Dari protein, otak menghasilkan bahan-bahan neurotransmitter untuk membolehkan sel otak menghantar maklumat dari satu sel kepada satu sel yang lain. Dari protein juga terhasilnya enzim-enzim untuk pelbagai fungsi penting sel. Dari protein juga terhasilnya kimia-kimia hormon sex,hormon tirod dan lain-lain. Malah 65% daripada bahan pembinaan sel tubuh dan otak adalah terdiri daripada protein.

Lemak

Dari lemak pula kita memperolehi bahan-bahan asas untuk membina dinding sel (membran sel). Jika lemah dinding maka lemahlah sel, termasuk sel otak. Oleh itu lemak adalah penting untuk otak.

Glukos

Sejumlah besar glukos diperolehi daripada karbohidrat. Glukos ini merupakan sumber tenaga yang terpenting untuk membolehkan otak berfungsi.

Garam galian

Garam galian seperti magnesium, kalsium, sodium, potassium dan selenium adalah amat penting untuk membolehkan sel berhubung antara satu sama lain dengan sempurna. Galian-galian ini merupakan faktor pembantu dalam fungsi enzim.

Vitamin

Vitamin adalah juga faktor pembantu yang penting untuk menghasilkan bahan-bahan penting untuk fungsi otak. Vitamin juga mempertahankan oksigen yang penting untuk fungsi otak.

Sumber:Kementerian Perdagangan Dalam Negeri dan Hal Ehwal Pengguna Malaysia

: 08 Nov 2005 10:55 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Google earth

Hi there,
I 've been shown by my colleague about Google Earth. It's about the world map and interactive mode. It's really interesting to explore. Those who feel that they are visual learners won't be bore when explore the map. This is because of the attractive map in 3D view and you have an option to search for 'POI' especially for kinaesthetic learners. They like to move around to learn somthing. This activitiy could benefit yourself because you're not getting lost again in this world. However, I would like to suggest to Google to change the label of 'MALAYSIA'. It's suppose to be above Singapore. The curent position shown only State of Sarawak and Sabah which is part of Malaysia.

: 21 Oct 2005 10:32 |  Tags: Maps World |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Today's interview

As usual I'm doing my interview session with PGCE student. Today I could interview only three of them. I started the interview session at 2.30 pm. Waiting for the respondent to come to my room. I kept on waiting for the student from outside the lab, suddenly one of the students came out from the lab and went to my interview room. Unfortunately, I was not there and didn't expect that was my respondent. Until he came and approached me and mentioned that he want to do the interview. I'm very surprised because he was the first respondent came and looked for the researcher. It' was not happened before. We started the interview session right on time. Here are the result of the students' interview today.

Student A
He is a kinaesthetic learner. When the first LS test, his LS was kinaesthestic and he has been identified by computer as a kinaesthetic learner too for the second time. He agreed with the learning style that has been assigned to him. He is really kinaesthetic learners. He tried to move around the system, made himself more interactive and response with the instruction. However, during interview session he did mention that he didn't like the way that the material presenting. He really felt uncomfortable with the instruction voice which too mechanical and not really nature as a human being. It's feel like robotic function. He really doesn't like to learn with the machine and prefer interacting with people. He likes the way he learning by doing.

Student B
She started the learning session with very confident. She skipped a few steps and instruction, and assumed that she knew what was the task. She never knew about the courseware before and really excited with moving around with the system. She has been identified as a kinaesthetic learners and she accepted it. She really enjoyed the lesson and actively using the mouse and kept on waitng what should she clicked next. At one part when she really concerned with the mouse , she didn't realise the voice from the instruction. So she missed the instruction and kept on searching what to do next. By clicking here and there with the trial and error method at last she recovered the mistake. She really enjoyed the learning session. Especially with the creating moving clips.

Student C
She's really special. She's willing to do the interview and trying the learning material eventhough she's disable. I salute her. I was asking her about her result before and she expected that she was having a reading styles. Her guess was right. However, when she took the MI test for the second time the result was aural learner. She couldn't believe with the result. She started the learning session with aural environment. The comment that she gave was about the irritating voice that she really didn't need it. She preferred if there was a manual in text format thatt she could refer and read. Even in CBL materials, she preferred the text on screen to help her learning with computer. This could be seen during her learning session when she couldn't follow a few tasks. She didn't really like the visual graphic as well. She told me that the visual could interrupt her during concentrating with the instruction. Finally, during answering the acheivement test, she still could answer the question very well. I was asking her either she answer the question by remembering or just guessing ? The answer was remembering.

In conclusion (at this stage), learners are preferred to use their prefer learning styles even they know that in different situation they still can learn. However, to be more effective in learning, they must learn refer to their preferred learning styles.

To be continued…..

: 15 Oct 2005 00:26 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

h4. MINDs Courseware

What is MINDs learning systems courseware?

Any comment?

: 10 Oct 2005 07:56 |  Tags: Courseware Learning Styles |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Different learners different ways

Are you Visual, Aural, Reading or Kinaesthetic learners?

Well, I would like to share some information from my observation that I 've done with a number of PGCE students. They have been tried out my courseware which I've developed to suite with 4 different route based on Visual, Aural, Reading and Kinaesthetic. From the result I found that different learners make a different assumption on how they are learned. Let's analyse their cases.

Case 1. Student A :
When he took his first intelligent inventory test used paper and pen, the result is visual. This is based on VARK model. Visual learning styles was proposed by (Fleming 1997) that learners preferred visual environment to stimulus their learning motivation. For the second MI inventory with Computer Based Learning material, his result was identified as Kinaesthetic. He didn't expect that he is kinaesthetic learner. When he gone through the learning with kinaesthetic environment he felt very comfortable with the way he moved around. He has a positive response and found that it was very easy to move around with the learning system. He has confident in answering the question in achievement test and respond with the activity.

Case 2. Student B
Student B is a female. She has been identified as a reading learner. When she took a MI test for the second time the computer result was kinaesthetic. She really surprised with the result of having a kinaesthestic learner that she didn't expect at all. This can be seen when she learnt very slow and tried to look for any instruction or text written on the screen. She really needed something to read and help her to continue with the lesson. She preferred if there was another resource or instruction beside her to refer. This shown that she was not happy with the learning environment that has been proposed to her.

Case 3. Student C
In her first learning inventory based on VARK model, she has been identified as a visual learners. When she took the test for the second time she has been identified as a visual strongest intelligent. This meant that she has been proposed to learn through visual learning route. From my observation during the lesson, I found that she was very confident on using the computer and happy moved around the learning system based on visual route.

Through the assesment test at the end of the lesson different learners got a different achievement.

Achievement test

Student A 9/10 Confident before answer the question
Student B 6/10 Not confident before answering the question
Student C 10/10 Very confident before answering the question

From the result above the conclusion can be made (but not really finalyse) that learners learnt with their own styles were motivated by their styles and thinking. (Sternberg 1999). This was support by Zull (2002) on how the brain works. Their brain worked through their right way of thinking and learning. Intergrative of four sensory cortex of their brain were help to work more efficient and suite with their learning style.

Give your comment,

Are you aware of learning styles?

Is it important for you that the way you are taught suit to your learning styles?

More result will be analyse….....

: 10 Oct 2005 06:12 |  Tags: Learning Styles |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

About Powerpoint

Hi there,

Just try to get some feedback from this simple survey. Please, if you willing to answer a few question below:-

1. Do you think use PowerPoint during presentation can be boring?

a. Yes
b. No
c. Comment please…...............

2. Do you think that Powerpoint can be innovative.

a. Yes
b. No
c. Comment please…...............

3. Do you plan to use powerpoint in your future presentation?

a. Yes
b. No
c. Comment please…...............

Thanks for your survey respond.

: 27 Sep 2005 21:15 |  Comments (9) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Are you Learning with your Styles?

Here are some question that we need to think before start learning.

How's your brain working?
Which part work better, left or right brain?
Do you know which style you will learn better?
What is the relation between brain working and learning styles?
What is your learning strategy?

So, start think and let me know. I will explain everything to you.

Wait for the next information.

: 26 Sep 2005 21:52 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Communication skills and conflict resolution skills

Communication skills and conflict resolution skills are essential in maintaining a good relationship as a married or single person. Unfortunately, we are born without these skills; we must learned how to be a good communicator. Here I would like to share some tips for effective communication. This practice should be effective if happen to husband and wife.

1. Don't rush to present your side.

2. Listen, listen, listen – without interrupting.

3. Acknowledge the message and the feelings behind the message by restating in your words what you heard and observed.

4. Empathize with the feelings, for example, "You are really upset." or angry or whatever.

5. Don't begin to talk to state your side until your wife has exhausted herself.

6. When it is your turn, state the facts, control your emotions, and be focused on the issue rather than proving yourself right or her wrong.

7. If you get interrupted, say, "May I finish, please”?

8. If it is a conflict, work together on finding a solution. etc.

If you practice good communication skills, she would pick them up from you as well and ,things would get better.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?

: 26 Sep 2005 13:20 |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem