Some Thoughts on the Strengths and Limitations of Learning Style and Personality Tests

My course coordinator Dr. Marshall-Stuart posed several questions to me about my views on the the VARK and Big 5 mentioned in my last post. Here are her questions and my responses follow:

• What is your learning style?
• What about the test surprised you?
• Did your learning style surprise you?
• Do you find this to be accurate about your approach to learning?
• Explain how closely you think you are to the results that the test gave you. How can knowing this information be helpful to you and others in approaching learning at doctoral level?

Thanks for the questions Dr. DDMS. 

None of the questions you ask are difficult and answering them in the context of this course is fine but I want to engage my colleagues in a discussion about not confusing VARK and a preferred way of learning with learning and the ability to learn in any medium.

I want to share two links here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4678182/

and

https://researched.org.uk/myth-busting-gardners-multiple-intelligences/

Lets tackle those questions now:

1. According to VARK I am a very visual and kinesthetic learner. I prefer to learn about Shakespeare by watching theatre and not by reading and I like models to explain everything in science. Having said that I learnt so much by listening to cricket commentary on radio as a schoolboy in the 1980's. I mastered time zones and Australian geography. I learnt to tell the difference in all the accents of the West Indian islands and so much more.I love watching live but now that radio commentary is a thing of the past I miss it. So in some ways I am very visual but in some instances I loved listening. In general I hate listening but I realised that if the speaker is capable of creating strong visual images in my mind then a speech can be engaging but VARK says I am very Visual and Kinesthetic. 

Now lets consider R/W. I have written and read my share of papers and did a good job at them so I can learn very well by reading and writing. I propose that successful academics must be strong in the VAR parts of VARK. I don't make a big deal of learning styles because if you want an Ed.D you certainly can't get it by watching videos and doing a dance for each concept. I believe that VARK has its place but we should not go overboard with it.

For question 2- Nothing about the test surprised me. I have taken many like it before.

For question 3- No not surprised by my learning style.

For question 4-As articulated above in question 1-No. VARK does not fit with my approach to learning it merely highlights what I would like learning to be if I could have it all my way. The reality is I simply cannot!

For the final question- I think both the VARK and Big 5 give some true information about how I would like my learning to be and about my personality. I honestly don't see it being very helpful in this Ed.D TLET because we have a set curriculum and we have to read, write papers and work in groups and if we aim to excel then we cannot say that we will wing it or take it easy in any one component. At best we can realize what will be easier and what will require more effort.

REFERENCES

 Bruyckere, P. D. (2020, February 3). Pedro De Bruyckere. Retrieved from https://researched.org.uk/myth-busting-gardners-multiple-intelligences/

 Newton, P. M. (2015). The Learning Styles Myth is Thriving in Higher Education. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01908