Overview

Whether you are aware of them or not, learning styles are influencing you right now! Learning styles indicate the natural ways your brain learns and remembers information. When you work with (rather than against your styles) you personalize your learning. Learning, then, becomes faster, easier, and more enjoyable.

Learning styles and processes fall under the following categories:

• Compelling Whys — the reasons that compel individuals to learn.
• 5Cs — the built-in process or natural pattern in your brain for learning new information.
• Sensory Style — the way you take in new information.
• Perceptual and Organizational Style — the way your brain organizes and stores the information it receives from your senses.
• Temperament Style — what you value in life, which influences how you like to learn.

In this section of the course, you will receive an overview of the five areas that contribute to the overall concept of Learning Channels. You will understand the "big picture" regarding the channels for learning.

Each area will be covered in depth in subsequent modules.  You will have the opportunity to interact with others in the class through a variety of activities, and begin to understand your own style preferences.  In addition, you will take the Kaleidoscope Profile, a Performance Learning Systems inventory, which helps you to identify your own learning, thinking, and working preferences and challenges.

Activity Checklist

Open the Learning Activity Checklist (pdf).

Module One Objectives

At the completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Discuss how educational research supports the topics of this course.
• Identify and explain five basic needs that, when met, become the compelling whys of learning (survival, affiliation, power, freedom, and fun).
• Recognize and evaluate how the compelling whys are operating in his or her own school, and then use these findings to inform and improve instructional practice.