A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

18 ❘
Teaching, supervising, learning
encourages the students to consider how they will maintain and develop their
skills and apply them in future interviews with patients (Kolb’s abstract
conceptualisation, active experimentation). To encourage active experimentation,
students may be offered the chance to repeat sections of the role play to see if a
different approach would have been more effective.
By encouraging reflection after role plays we aim to develop students’ attitudes
to reflective practice so that they will continue to use it in encounters with real
patients, not only while they are studying, but throughout their professional lives.
(Dr Tanya Tierney, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London)
LEARNING STYLES AND RELATED IDEAS
Learning styles is one of the most widely used terms in relation to student learning.
However, the notion of learning styles is problematic. There are several categorisations
of ‘styles’; research-based evidence of their existence is sparse (Coffield et al., 2004);
the term is sometimes misused to mean approaches to learning, or the two are conflated.
However, even though learners may have preferences it may be that they should be
encouraged to use a range of learning styles, in which case those responsible for
organising learning should create opportunities for learning that are sensitive to different
styles, and do not simply reflect how they or their students like to learn.
Three categorisations of learning style are mentioned below. Pask (1976) identified
serialist and holist learning styles. A serialist is said to prefer a step-by-step approach
and a narrow focus while holists prefer to obtain the ‘big picture’ and to work with
illustrations and analogies.
Perhaps the best-known categorisation of learning style is that of Honey and Mumford
(1982). They offer a fourfold classification of activist, pragmatist, reflector and theorist:
• Activists respond most positively to learning situations offering challenge, to include
new experiences and problems, excitement and freedom in their learning.
• Reflectors respond most positively to structured learning activities where they are
provided with time to observe, reflect and think, and allowed to work in a detailed
manner.
• Theorists respond well to logical, rational structure and clear aims, where they are
given time for methodical exploration and opportunities to question and stretch their
intellect.
• Pragmatists respond most positively to practically based, immediately relevant
learning activities, which allow scope for practice and using theory.
They suggest that the preferred learning style of any individual will include elements
from two or more of these categories.