Volume 5 Winter 2011 Number 2 - Charleston Law Review

SCHULZE FINAL.doc1/20/2011 6:14PMCHARLESTON LAW REVIEW [Volume 5student’s preferred (and often subconscious) learning style thusfocuses on teaching students rather than subjects. For instance,at Oklahoma City University School of Law, the Study forSuccess Program includes several elements using learning stylestheory to enhance students’ success and individualize the lawschool learning process. 188 In the Foundational Skills Series, aseries of workshops open to all students with a target audience ofthe first-year students, attendees learn the scientific basis andtheories behind preferred learning styles. 189 They then useeither the VARK instrument 190 or learning-styles-online.com 191 todetermine whether they are visual, auditory, read-write,kinesthetic, or “multimodal” learners. 192 The instructor thenexplains examples of how to accomplish certain law school studytasks in a more effective way, using one’s preferred learningstyle. 193Rather than teaching all students to outline in thetraditional way—a hierarchical written system organizingdoctrinal material using roman numerals, then capital letters,etcetera, the academic support professional shows differentmethods of outlining which accommodate each learning style. 194While read-write learners are taught the alpha-numeric,hierarchical outlining method, visual learners are taught how tocreate a “mind map” of course material in a way that comportswith their absorption style that leans towards visualrepresentations. 195 These students are also referred to softwaresuch as FreeMind or Mind Manager. 196 Auditory learners aretaught how to “talk through” doctrinal material and even to188. E-mail from Chelsea M. Baldwin, Assistant Dir., AcademicAchievement, Okla. City Univ. Sch. of Law, to author (July 7, 2010, 14:55 CST)(on file with author) [hereinafter Baldwin E-mail].189. Id.190. See VARK, http://www.vark-learn.com (last visited Dec. 13, 2010).191. Discover Your Learning Styles—Graphically!, LEARNING-STYLES-ONLINE.COM, http://www.learning-styles-online.com (last visited July 28, 2010).192. Baldwin E-mail, supra note 188.193. Id.194. Id.195. Id.196. Id.316