Learning Styles

There are a number of approaches for thinking about learning styles of students and a number of instruments for helping identify learning styles.  Descriptions of several instruments are listed below for your use:

Grasha-Riechmann Surveys
Student Learning Style Survey and Teaching Style Survey

Keirsey Temperament Sorter
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is an online personality temperament questionaire similar to the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter, like all personality inventories, provides only a preliminary and rough indicator of personality preferences.  Instructors may use this online questionaire as a starting point for students to recognize and appreciate individual differences, particularly as they pertain to effective teamwork.

Index of Learning Styles
Developed by Richard M. Felder and Linda K. Silverman, North Carolina State University
The Index of Learning Styles is used to assess preferences on four dimensions (active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and sequential/global) of a learning style model.

The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI)
The MBTI is a personality inventory bases on Carl Jung's theory of personality.  The MBTI  identifies four dimensions and 8 preferences that combined, yield 16 "types" that describe a person's preferences.  It is widely used for a number of purposes including thinking about preferences as they relate to learning and teaching styles.  This file was developed by Harvey J. Brightman, Georgia State University, for educational and non-profit uses. 

Online MBTI test available for a charge by Paladin Associates.

The VARK Preferences
Developed by Neil Fleming, New Zealand, 1997
The VARK (V=Visual, A=Aural, R=Read/Write, K=Kinesthetic) is an informal learning styles inventory designed to help students identify hwo they prefer to learn. The inventory contains 14 questions whose answers provide students with an indication of what their personal learning preference may tend to be. The author also provides study strategies for the various learning modalities.

Learning styles . (2000). Site provides overview of VAK (visual, auditory, kinesthetic), Myers Briggs Type Indicator, Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. 

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