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This
is a brief introduction to the learning styles and a listing
of a few courses representing them. The four primary learning
styles are Visual, Aural, Read/Write and Kinesthetic. Explore
the links to learn more and enjoy!
Learning Styles sites
Let’s Learn About Learning
Styles http://members.aol.com/PegFlint/homeschool_ learningstyles.html
This site was created for home school use—to help parents
identify their child’s learning style —it gives a very
simple introduction to different learning styles in an outline
format. Very clear and easy to understand.
Learning Styles, Culture and Hemispheric
Dominance http://www.geocities.com/ ~mathskills/brain.htm
Left-right Brain chart on a musical page. It links back to Professor
Freedman’s Math Help page http://www.geocities.com/~mathskills/ This
is a great math tutorial page to help students overcome math
anxiety. It is aimed at adult community college students and
shows how taking account of different learning styles in course
design can benefit students.
Take the VARK Inventory http://www.active-learning-site.com/vark.htm
Take the VARK Inventory to help identify your preferred teaching
and learning style —Visual, Aural, Read/Write or Kinesthetic.
This is a great site—fun too!
Here are some examples of online
courses:
Visual learning
Courses use visual aids to represent
ideas instead of words.
Welcome to HemoSurf, An Interactive
Atlas of Hematology http://www.aum.iawf. unibe.ch/vlz/bwl/Haematologie/index.htm
In German, English and French—very interactive— simple-to-use
site but demonstrates complex examples of hematology. It is quite
kinesthetic as well as visual.
The Visible Embryo http://www.visembryo.com/baby/ The opening
screen is a spiral, which represents the 23 stages of the first
trimester of pregnancy and every two weeks of the second and
third trimesters. There are 40 links to the different stages—there
are even some games you can play and synchronous chats with doctors.
Informative site.
Aural learning
Courses use sound to transfer information—speaking/listening.
Learn Spanish: A Free Online Tutorial
http://www.studyspanish.com/tutorial.htm
Over 60 lessons, with practice exercises, listening and oral
practice (listen and repeat), tests, links to cultural notes,
teacher resources, vocabulary, and fun games. A very impressive
site. I wish there was one this good for Mandarin Chinese!
History and Scope of Microbiology
http://project.bio.iastate.edu/Courses/MIPM302/
History/Lecture.html RealAudio is used to provide approximately
30-minute lectures for each unit. This course offered by Iowa
State University requires the student to listen to the audio,
as the slide for each unit only has notes.
Read/Write learning
Courses use written words to convey
information.
The Writing Machine http://ec.hku.hk/writingmachine/ The Writing
Machine is an Internet resource created at the English Centre,
at the University of Hong Kong. It offers a self-access course
and resources to writing research papers. Designed for EFL students,
but useful for native speakers too!
English Through the Internet http://mofetsrv.mofet.macam98.ac.il/~elaine//eti/welcome.html
This class involves teacher trainees and EFL students—training
them both to learn about the Internet, while the teacher trainee
helps the EFL student with their reading skills. An interesting
concept, which shows that reading and writing need not be an
isolated learning experience.
Kinesthetic learning
Courses transfer information through
experience—hands-on, examples, practice and doing.
The Interactive Patient http://medicus.marshall.edu/mainmenu.htm
“The Interactive Patient” at Marshall University School
of Medicine. This is a cool site—it simulates real patient
interaction and gives a medical student, or you, a chance to
make a diagnosis. I hope that this doesn’t replace real
patient/doctor contact—but it makes for a great site!
An Introduction to Macromedia Authorware
http://nebula.macromedia.com/ pathware4/student/default.htm
Macromedia’s own course in Authorware —this is the
most hands-on course I have been able to find. It really shows
the potential that multimedia has in an educational setting.
The Interactive Frog Dissection
- An Online Tutorial http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/ go/frog/
Designed to use in a high school biology class, it offers a great
alternative to dissection. I wish a program like this had been
around when I was in high school, Instead, I went to the library
and wrote a report on why frogs should live in their natural
environment!
At Home in the Heartland Online
http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/athome/
welcome.htm An online exhibit of life in Illinois from 1700
to the present—meet real people and help them make decisions
about what to do. This site brings history to life! For an article
relating to this site, surf to http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/ archives/WCE/archives/lewis.htm
The VARK Inventory http://www.active-learning-site.com/vark.htm
This is a great way to introduce teachers to some of the many
different learning styles. The Website is a great one because
it is geared towards educators.
Professor Freedman’s Math Help page http://www.geocities.com/~mathskills/ This
is a page I really wish I had had when I was a student. It is
one of the first sites I have seen that really makes math approachable
for those of us who are not very natural with numbers. It is
really a super site. I will pass it on to the math teachers and
use it as an example to show how it is possible to modify presentations
to meet the needs of a variety of learners.
The Visible Embryo http://www.visembryo.com/baby/ This site
will be recommended to the science teachers at my school, as
well as to every local friend who is starting a family. I traditionally
give a copy of the book What to Expect When You Are Expecting,
but now I will have to give this link to my long distant friends!
The Spanish Tutorial http://www.studyspanish.com/tutorial.htm
This is a really super site. It really shows how language can
be taught on the Web. It will also be a site I use to brush up
on my own language skills.
The Writing Machine http://ec.hku.hk/writingmachine/ Here is
a site I already recommend to my students and EFL teachers. The
selfaccess materials are helpful and demonstrate how a site can
be designed to benefit students of all learning levels and speeds.
Macromedia’s course in Authorware,
http://nebula.macromedia.com/pathware4/ student/default.htm
This is the one course listed above that I have actually taken.
For anyone who is interested in authoring, it is a superb site.
After completing the interactive lessons, one is sure to feel
more comfortable with Authorware and aware of the potential for
multimedia in the online learning environment.
The Interactive Frog Dissection
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/frog/
Here is the one site that makes me wish I was a secondary school
student again. A fabulous site which breaks the traditional idea
that dissection was the one learning experience for which there
was no replacement.
At Home in the Heartland Online
http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/athome/
welcome.htm This site really lets the student get a feel
for life in the past. This is another site which shows how technology
can give students an experience they otherwise could not have.
I found that exploring all of the
above sites, and others, was fun as well as educational. It would
be easy to spend a solid week exploring courses, but I fear by
the end of it, I would be registered for quite a few as well!
Enjoy Explore and Expand your mind.
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