Learning Preferences: The Basics

A learning preference (also called a learning style) is a person’s preferred method of learning. It refers to how you like to acquire and work with information, including how you prefer to gather, interpret, evaluate, organize, and draw conclusions about the information. If these concepts sound familiar, you’re already one step ahead of the game because they’re also components of critical thinking. In fact, you can think of your learning preferences as your preferred ways of engaging in critical thinking.

Learning Preference: Your preferred method for acquiring and working with information. Also called a learning style.

In college every student acquires and works with information — for instance, through classroom learning, reading textbooks, conducting experiments, and studying for quizzes and tests. But students differ in how they prefer to acquire and work with information. Take Dylan and Elizabeth. They’re in a first-year seminar course, and their instructor has just challenged them to think critically about how they learn best. Dylan realizes that he loves classes in which he can take part in discussions and find out what other students know and think. This way of learning keeps him energized and engaged. By contrast, Elizabeth finds it difficult to learn new information while she’s also expected to participate in discussion. She likes lecture classes best and enjoys discussing material later in her study group once she feels ready to contribute to the conversation. By thinking metacognitively about how they prefer to learn, Dylan and Elizabeth will take a more active approach to mastering course material and develop more effective learning strategies. Learning about your own preferences will help you do the same.

ACTIVITY: Bring in the popular games Taboo, Pictionary, and Scrabble. Divide students into groups and ask them to play one game for ten minutes. Ask students to switch games until they’ve played all three. Then ask students which game they preferred. This prompts them to begin considering their learning preferences, as these games focus on different skills (visual vs. auditory, etc.).

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As you think about ways of learning, remember the word preference. Your learning preferences are the ways that you prefer to learn, when given the choice, and these preferences strongly influence the learning strategies you develop. However, your preferences aren’t the only ways you can learn. Although most of the time you’ll probably use learning strategies that make you most comfortable — those that reflect your preferences — you can also develop other techniques with effort and practice. Why would you bother? Because doing so makes you more flexible: You can make adjustments if a particular approach isn’t working or the learning situation demands a strategy that you don’t typically use. For instance, though Dylan prefers to learn through discussion, he can still learn by reflecting on material on his own — and sometimes he may need to. It will just take more effort for him to use this way of learning.

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Can You Change Your Colors? When it comes to how you approach learning, think of yourself as a chameleon: You can change your “colors” (how you learn) depending on your learning environment. The more adaptable you are in how you learn, the more you can adjust to changing circumstances — and get the most from your classes.
Dr. J. Beller/Shutterstock

ACTIVITY: Have students take out their cell phones and place them on their desks. Ask students to reflect on how they learned to use their phone when they first got it. Did they immediately start pressing buttons? Did they read the user manual first? This information may help students begin to identify their learning preferences.

To see for yourself how preferences work, try a quick activity. Start by signing your name on a piece of paper. How long did it take you to sign your name? Is your signature recognizable to you and others? How much effort and thought did you put into writing your signature?

FURTHER READING: Alexandra Rolfe and Brad Cheek discuss ways to optimize the learning environment for students with various learning style preferences in their article “Learning Styles,” published in InnovAiT (2012).

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Now sign your name using your other hand. Was anything different this time around? How much time, effort, and thought did you put into writing your signature on the second try? How does your signature look?

If you’re like most people, you found it easier to sign your name with one hand than with the other. The signature using your nonpreferred hand probably took more time, thought, and effort, and maybe it looks a bit messy. When given the choice, you’ll continue writing with your preferred hand because you get a better result. But suppose something happens — let’s say you break your arm — and you have to write with your nonpreferred hand. At first you’d likely find it harder to do, but the more you practiced, the easier it would get.

The same is true for learning strategies: Most of the time, you’ll rely on the strategies that feel most natural and familiar. After all, if something works, why change it? But if needed, you can adjust to different conditions by using learning strategies that lie outside your comfort zone. Doing so takes time, effort, and an open mind — but the results will be worth the investment.