The Relationship between learning Styles & ICT

Learning Styles

Understanding students' personal learning styles helps teachers make learning more relevant. Learners can be defined by the sensory pathways through which they prefer to receive information:

Visual - Learning by Seeing

Information and communications technology (ICT) can stimulate visual learning with graphics, animations and simulations. Interactive whiteboards and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations enable teachers to present concepts in a visual way.

Visual Learning Ideas

Show Discovery Channel videos from Encarta to illustrate a topic
Ask children to present a topic such as the water cycle using pictures and diagrams in PowerPoint
Get children to produce a time-lapse movie of a plant germinating and growing using Movie Maker 2
Technology Solutions
Learn more about Encarta
Learn more about PowerPoint
Learn more about Movie Maker 2 (US)
Learn more about Windows Instant Messenger (video conferencing) (US)
Learn more about Tablet PCs

Auditory - Learning by Hearing

Auditory learners prefer to learn through sound and speech. Many PCs, and all Tablet PCs, can record speech and sound. These files can then be embedded into slides or documents. ICT can also encourage conversation-based collaboration, for example, through video conferencing.

Auditory Learning Ideas

Get children to use some of the sound clips in Encarta to explain concepts
Ask children to embed sounds in their PowerPoint presentations to explain a topic
Videos with voice-overs engage visual and auditory learning styles
Ask your students to record the soundtrack to a demonstration
Essential Technology
Learn more about Encarta
Learn more about Tablet PCs
Learn more about Windows
Learn more about PowerPoint
Learn more about Office 2007

Kinaesthetic or Tactile - Learning by Doing

Kinaesthetic or tactile learners prefer active forms of learning such as writing, drawing and producing animations, or making models and doing practical experiments. They benefit from using devices that involve touch, like mice and joysticks, or a Tablet PC, which enables users to write or draw onto a computer using a pen.

Kinaesthetic Learning Ideas

The 'Lever Principle' interactivity in Encarta is a great example of content for kinaesthetic learners
Set up a PC with Flight Simulator and a games controller and attach it to a data projector or large screen. Select an area to fly over to enhance geography lessons
Ask children to explain a concept that involves movement using the animation tools in PowerPoint
Use digital photography with PowerPoint to teach a movement in PE or a skill in Design and Technology
Essential Technology
Learn more about Encarta
Learn more about Tablet PCs
Learn more about Flight Simulator (US)
Learn more about PowerPoint

Next Steps

Why not get children to analyse their preferred learning style by using this Multiple Intelligences quiz on the Birmingham Grid for Learning (BGL) website?
Take the Multiple Intelligences quiz on the BGL website

above from source: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/learning/personalised/styles.mspx

My thoughts:

This is a microsoft site so obviously all the information here is part of a marketing tool, but that doesn't mean that the info isn't useful. I found the last note at the bottom of the page - where kids are encouraged to analyse their preferred learning style. I would call this metacognition.

This website clearly demonstrates that the relationship between ICT and learning styles is complimentary. ICT can cater for virtually all learning styles, encouraging the use of both sides of the brain, fostering social constructivism and providing entertaining and challenging cognitive tools.