Analysis Of Learning Style And The Implications For Teaching Education Essay

Analysis Of Learning Style And The Implications For Teaching Education Essay This piece of writing is designed to explore how I learn as a student Radiographer and how this could potentially affect the way I teach future Radiographers upon graduation. This will allow me to understand, rethink and improve my methods of teaching that will benefit and not hinder learning of the students I would be teaching. Learning is all about new skills and new information, through purposeful change or through new experiences (Reece and Walker, 2003). Kolb’s experiential learning theory was designed in order to stage learning and understand how people perceived and processed new knowledge. Kolb created a learning cycle that consisted of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation which could be entered at any point in response to a learning activity depending on the individual preference (Kolb and Kolb, 2005). According to Honey and Mumford (1992) learners can be placed into four categories, Activist, Reflector, T heorist and Pragmatist. The usual outcome is that learners are a part of all four but dominate more in one. It is even possible to adapt to different learning styles to cope with different learning situations (Fatt, 2000). In order to discover how I perceive challenges, interact with them and respond to them it is important to outline what my learning style is as people can perceive learning experiences in many different ways. Having completed the structured approach to learning styles questionnaire, it shows that I dominate more in the reflective learning style and closely followed by theorist (see appendix 2). As a reflective learner I tend to reflect on my experiences and think hard before finishing any work. I consider any implications before the activity and like to listen to and observe other people before doing it myself (Honey and Mumford, 1992) and this is exactly how I learn in practice and everyday life. This is not the ideal type of learning in some situations especially in practice. As stated above reflectors learn better when they can be allowed to stand back and observe, allowed to think, prepare, then review what has happened afterwards. An example of when this can be detrimental to reflective learners is when radiographers have to modify their technique for plain film examinations. I cannot begin to modify a technique until I have seen it being performed; this is also true of learning how to use radiographic equipment which will be a disadvantage for when I qualify in the fact I would need to consider the technique for a while before doing it. In a busy department reflective learning cannot always happen, this type of learning takes time which is not always possible when there are time constraints and when staff are very busy. Another problem that could occur is that staff may think that the student does not want to participate or learn and that they are shying away but in reality the student wants to observe something before they participate which is not the fault of the student. In clinical practice this learning style can actually be a learning barrier to students and will take longer to learn new experiences. Although sometimes in a busy environment, just being able to observe from afar is sometimes more helpful to the reflective learner. Other barriers to learning for reflectors in practice is past negative experiences, lack of time within a busy environment, lack of support from the radiographers, lack of clear intent of what the learner is supposed to be doing, high expectations of knowledge and technique and being within a hostile environment (Downie and Basford, 2003). These barriers can prevent reflection so this learning activity will remain negatively in the reflective learners mind (Downie and Basford, 2003). But being in a clinical environment is still the best way to learn such a skill as radiography and this will still benefit reflective learners and indeed all learners despite the few barriers that exist (Gopee, 2008).