Do you ever feel like you don’t learn the same way as others around you?
Well, you’re not alone. We can all have different learning styles and preferences, just like our different abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. This doesn’t necessarily mean you can only learn a certain way, but maybe learning a specific way helps you understand better or faster.
So, if you’re curious about learning styles, you should consider reading this till the end – because we’ll tell you everything you need to know to study faster using your learning style!
What Do We Mean by Learning Styles?
A learning style basically means a way of learning that helps you make more sense of the content. Usually, these are associated with our senses, like visual and auditory learners. But some people follow other approaches as well. However, despite this difference, the main idea is the same. Understanding how our brains process specific information can help us learn how we learn best. For example, a visual learner will learn best through graphical data. And by identifying what works best for you, you can learn better – and faster!
What Are the Different Learning Styles?
Several models describe learning styles. However, the most common one includes the following learning types:
- Auditory learners include people who learn better through listening. A great example of this would be podcasts. Learners can choose a comfortable environment and tune into how they learn best!
- Visual learners include people who learn better by seeing. These people value graphs, diagrams, YouTube videos, and other visual assets to boost their learning speed and ensure they remember the material.
- Reading/Writing learners include people most comfortable with learning material as they read through it and make notes.
- Kinesthetic or Tactile learners include the kind of people who need to “hold it in their hands.” These people learn better through hands-on activities or by practically implementing their study material. Projects, models, and other resources might help, too – their learning is stimulated by their sense of touch.
Now, not everyone agrees with this system, and there’s another popular model of learning styles that emphasizes the different dimensions of learning preferences:
- Active-reflective is concerned with how we process information. Active learners learn by applying, discussing, or experimenting with learned knowledge. Reflective learners, on the other hand, prefer to analyze information, come up with questions, and relate it to their own lives.
- Sensing-intuitive has to do with how we perceive information. Sensing learners love concrete information like facts and minute details, while intuitive learners prefer abstract and creative concepts.
- Verbal-visual is all about how we want to receive information. Visual learners like to learn through pictures, diagrams, videos, or graphs, but verbal learners like to hear or read information as text, words, or sounds.
- Sequential-global describes how our brains organize information. Sequential learners want a logical, stepwise order of information. Global learners, on the other hand, focus on the bigger picture and tend to form connections between different concepts to understand them better.
You can also consider these learning styles as preferences. But the important thing to note is that most people don’t fall into either category – they’re usually somewhere in between. We call them multimodal learners because they can leverage different styles to understand content. In fact, some people think these learning styles are more applicable to subjects rather than people. So, specific subjects or concepts must be taught a certain way, while others are best explained another way. For example, sequential learning might be appropriate for programming, but tactile learning might be more useful for sculpture making.
Identifying Your Learning Style
Knowing about different learning styles isn’t enough – you need to know what works best for you to really take advantage of this information. As for how you can find out your learning style, here’s how:
- Taking a survey or questionnaire
- Consciously observe your learning process
- Trying different styles to see what works best for you
Regardless of your learning style, you should not restrict yourself to a particular style. For example, if you’re a visual learner, you can use graphical information to learn better. However, if this isn’t working for you, you should be open to other styles rather than trying to force content through the visual path. Remember, the goal is to learn better, not learn a certain way.
Why Is It Important to Know Your Learning Style?
So, if a particular learning style doesn’t always work for you, why not bother finding out your learning style?
Understanding learning styles is essential because they help you improve the way you learn. They can also help you internalize concepts much faster since you already know how your brain will likely respond to new concepts. Not only will this save you loads of time, but it will also help you retain this information for longer. By knowing your learning preferences, you can choose what methods will help you study better rather than trying to somehow magically “absorb” information.
Learning styles are also important for teachers. Teachers can’t always understand things from a student’s perspective, but knowing about learning styles is a great first step. Moreover, they can use modern technology like AI and machine learning to assess how students interact with provided learning materials and then review them accordingly.
How Can SimpliTaught Help?
SimpliTaught is an online learning platform that implements personalized and adaptive learning using AI and machine learning. Personalized learning is all about helping you understand the content better. Our AI model looks for study materials related to your textbook concepts. Simultaneously, our machine learning model watches how you interact with the content. We then use this information to “adapt” the content accordingly and better accommodate your learning preferences. So, you’ll find the best learning materials to guide you even if you’re a multimodal learner.
If you’re still not convinced, we made a list of everything we can do for you to make this decision easier!
- Customization: Our AI machine learning models work together to deliver personalized education tailored to your needs. So, you can learn at your own speed and style. You can even take notes in real time with our super cool annotation feature.
- Accessibility: With SimpliTaught, you can organize all of your study materials into different folders in your 2 GB free cloud storage space. Plus, you can add any important materials to your exam library for a quick review before your tests and exams. And the best part? You can access everything in one place – anytime, anywhere!
- Collaborative Learning: Another great thing to love about SimpliTaught is our global community features. It’s almost like a giant forum that enhances student and educator engagement. Students can follow their favorite educators, message them with questions, ask for tutoring, set up video chats, and more! Even educators can use this feature to collaborate with educators from other institutes.
If you’re interested in further exploring the world of personalized and adaptive learning, or even if you just want to double your study speed, visit our website here to understand all the cool things we can do to help you study better!
