LEARNING STYLE INVENTORY

This is a Wiley resource (www.wiley.com/college/schermerhorn).

Step 1.

Take the Learning Style Instrument at www.wiley.com/college/schermerhorn.

Step 2.

The instrument will give you scores on seven learning styles:

1. Visual learner—focus on visual depictions such as pictures and graphs
2. Print learner—focus on seeing written words
3. Auditory learner—focus on listening and hearing
4. Interactive learner—focus on conversation and verbalization
5. Haptic learner—focus on sense of touch or grasp
6. Kinesthetic learner—focus on physical involvement
7. Olfactory learner—focus on smell and taste

Step 3.

Consider your top four rankings among the learning styles. They suggest your most preferred methods of learning.

Step 4.

Read the following study tips for the learning styles. Think about how you can take best advantage of your preferred learning styles.

WHAT ARE LEARNING STYLES?

Have you ever repeated something to yourself over and over to help remember it? Or does your best friend ask you to draw a map to someplace where the two of you are planning to meet, rather than just tell her the directions? If so, then you already have an intuitive sense that people learn in different ways. Researchers in learning theory have developed various categories of learning styles. Some people, for example, learn best by reading or writing. Others learn best by using various senses: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, or even smelling. When you understand how you learn best, you can make use of learning strategies that will optimize the time you spend studying. To find out what your particular learning style is, go to www.wiley.com/college/boone and take the learning styles quiz you find there. The quiz will help you determine your primary learning style:

Visual Learner         Auditory Learner         Haptic Learner         Olfactory Learner         Print Learner         Interactive Learner         Kinesthetic Learner

Then consult the following information as well as the following pages for study tips for each learning style. This information will help you better understand your learning style and how to apply it to the study of business.

Study Tips for Visual Learners

If you are a Visual Learner, you prefer to work with images and diagrams. It is important that you see information.

Visual Learning

• Draw charts/diagrams during lecture.
• Examine textbook figures and graphs.
• Look at images and videos on WileyPLUS and other Web sites.
• Pay close attention to the charts, drawings, and handouts your instructor uses.
• Underline; use different colors.
• Use symbols, flowcharts, graphs, different arrangements on the page, white spaces.

Visual Reinforcement

• Make flash cards by drawing tables/charts on one side and definition or description on the other side.
• Use art-based worksheets; cover labels on images in text and then rewrite the labels.
• Use colored pencils/markers and colored paper to organize information into types.
• Convert your lecture notes into “page pictures.” To do this:
  • Use the visual learning strategies outlined above.
  • Reconstruct images in different ways.
  • Redraw pages from memory.
  • Replace words with symbols and initials.
  • Draw diagrams where appropriate.
  • Practice turning your visuals back into words.

If visual learning is your weakness: If you are not a Visual Learner but want to improve your visual learning, try re-keying tables/charts from the textbook.

Study Tips for Print Learners

If you are a Print Learner, reading will be important, but writing will be much more important.

Print Learning

• Write text lecture notes during lecture.
• Read relevant topics in textbook, especially textbook tables.
• Look at text descriptions in animations and Web sites.
• Use lists and headings.
• Use dictionaries, glossaries, and definitions.
• Read handouts, textbooks, and supplementary library readings.
• Use lecture notes.

Print Reinforcement

• Rewrite your notes from class, and copy classroom handouts in your own handwriting.
• Make your own flash cards.
• Write out essays summarizing lecture notes or textbook topics.
• Develop mnemonics.
• Identify word relationships.
• Create tables with information extracted from textbook or lecture notes.
• Use text-based worksheets or crossword puzzles.
• Write out words again and again.
• Reread notes silently.
• Rewrite ideas and principles into other words.
• Turn charts, diagrams, and other illustrations into statements.
• Practice writing exam answers.
• Practice with multiple choice questions.
• Write paragraphs, especially beginnings and endings.
• Write your lists in outline form.
• Arrange your words into hierarchies and points.

If print learning is your weakness: If you are not a Print Learner but want to improve your print learning, try covering labels of figures from the textbook and writing in the labels.

Study Tips for Auditory Learners

If you are an Auditory Learner, then you prefer listening as a way to learn information. Hearing will be very important, and sound helps you focus.

Auditory Learning

• Make audio recordings during lecture. Do not skip class; hearing the lecture is essential to understanding.
• Play audio files provided by your instructor and textbook.
• Listen to narration of animations.
• Attend lecture and tutorials.
• Discuss topics with students and instructors.
• Explain new ideas to other people.
• Leave spaces in your lecture notes for later recall.
• Describe overheads, pictures, and visuals to somebody who was not in class.

Auditory Reinforcement

• Record yourself reading the notes and listen to the recording.
• Write out transcripts of the audio files.
• Summarize information that you have read, speaking out loud.
• Use a recorder to create self-tests.
• Compose “songs” about information.
• Play music during studying to help focus.
• Expand your notes by talking with others and with information from your textbook.
• Read summarized notes out loud.
• Explain your notes to another auditory learner.
• Talk with the instructor.
• Spend time in quiet places recalling the ideas.
• Say your answers out loud.

If auditory learning is your weakness: If you are not an Auditory Learner but want to improve your auditory learning, try writing out the scripts from pre-recorded lectures.

Study Tips for Interactive Learners

If you are an Interactive Learner, you will want to share your information. A study group will be important.

Interactive Learning

• Ask a lot of questions during lecture or TA review sessions.
• Contact other students, via e-mail or discussion forums, and ask them to explain what they learned.

Interactive Reinforcement

• “Teach” the content to a group of other students.
• Talking to an empty room may seem odd, but it will be effective for you.
• Discuss information with others, making sure that you ask as well as answer questions.
• Work in small group discussions, making a verbal and written discussion of what others say.

If interactive learning is your weakness: If you are not an Interactive Learner but want to improve your interactive learning, try asking your study partner questions and then repeating them to the instructor.

Study Tips for Haptic Learners

If you are a Haptic Learner, you prefer to work with your hands. It is important to physically manipulate material.

Haptic Learning

• Take blank paper to lecture to draw charts/tables/diagrams.
• Using the textbook, run your fingers along the figures and graphs to get a “feel” for shapes and relationships.

Haptic Reinforcement

• Trace words and pictures on flash cards.
• Perform electronic exercises that involve drag-and-drop activities.
• Alternate between speaking and writing information.
• Observe someone performing a task that you would like to learn.
• Make sure you have freedom of movement while studying.

If haptic learning is your weakness: If you are not a Haptic Learner but want to improve your haptic learning, try spending more time in class working with graphs and tables while speaking or writing down information.

Study Tips for Kinesthetic Learners

If you are a Kinesthetic Learner, it will be important that you involve your body during studying.

Kinesthetic Learning

• Ask permission to get up and move during lecture.
• Participate in role-playing activities in the classroom.
• Use all your senses.
• Go to labs; take field trips.
• Listen to real-life examples.
• Pay attention to applications.
• Use trial-and-error methods.
• Use hands-on approaches.

Kinesthetic Reinforcement

• Make flash cards; place them on the floor, and move your body around them.
• Move while you are teaching the material to others.
• Put examples in your summaries.
• Use case studies and applications to help with principles and abstract concepts.
• Talk about your notes with another kinesthetic person.
• Use pictures and photographs that illustrate an idea.
• Write practice answers.
• Role-play the exam situation.

If kinesthetic learning is your weakness: If you are not a Kinesthetic Learner but want to improve your kinesthetic learning, try moving flash cards to reconstruct graphs, tables, and the like.

Study Tips for Olfactory Learners

If you are an Olfactory Learner, you will prefer to use the senses of smell and taste to reinforce learning. This is a rare learning modality.

Olfactory Learning

• During lecture, use different scented markers to identify different types of information.

Olfactory Reinforcement

• Rewrite notes with scented markers.
• If possible, go back to the computer lab to do your studying.
• Burn aromatic candles while studying.
• Try to associate the material that you're studying with a pleasant taste or smell.

If olfactory learning is your weakness: If you are not an Olfactory Learner but want to improve your olfactory learning, try burning an aromatic candle or incense while you study, or eating cookies during study sessions.