Week 9: Developing Stylistic Diversity

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Refreshing my memory on Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Theory, I have come to realise that there are so many diverse learning styles that a teacher just cannot address all of them at a span of a single class. Nor should it be done! I believe students can learn much more by being provided diversity than by just being directed towards their own learning style.

Deciding on one's own learning style is not an easy task. Challenged by this week's Webskills guest moderator, Russel Moon, I have tried to define my own. What I realised is that I am "active sometimes and reflective sometimes", "sensing sometimes and intuitive sometimes" as Richard Felder and Barbara Soloman so nicely put it in their article.

Generally speaking, I believe I am reflective-sensing-visual-sequential, but these preferences are so mild (especially in the case of active-reflective styles) that they easily turn into their opposites in specific circumstances. For example, when it comes to literature classes, I switch from visual to verbal and from sequential to global. The same goes for my fitness course, while I was attending the course for fitness instructors my learning style was greatly active, visual, intuitive and global. Almost a complete opposite to the preferred general style!

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What does this indicate? Well, hopefully not a DID disorder :) Even though there certainly is a Dr Jekyll and a Mr Hyde in all of us.





I believe learning is a life-long process which brings so much development to the learner. Throughout your life you develop, change, upgrade and adapt to different occasions. Naturally, your learning style undergoes the same changes. I see this process as a constant professional development.

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Week 8: Technology Tools to Enhance Learning

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After these 8 weeks of our Webskills course, I can nothing but state that technology has influenced both my teaching and my students' learning a lot. The influence has almost unanimously been positive.

Technology has provided both me, as a teacher, and my students with greater availability of teaching materials. Resources are available even if some f2f classes are skipped by students.

Additionally, my students autonomy in learning has increased. They have learnt to be more interested in research. They freely link to additional resources and make use of much more learning devices. They have also become aware of their own responsibility for their learning.

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One of the issues that has to be addressed with a lot of care in the process of incorporating technology into classes is quantity. One at a time, step by step...these are the golden rules! Teachers have to be very careful not to overwhelm the students with technology, which can cause frustration and negative attitude to the course. Students should be completely at ease and comfortable with one tool before a new one is introduced. In addition to that, there should be a choice of a few tools that will be used. There cannot be constant addition, as Jeff Magoto has stated in one of his posts as a guest instructor in Webskills Course Week8.

Finally, backup plan is a must! Just consider the photo below...

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