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Thursday, November 10, 2011

How does each learning style prefer to be taught?

Written by Catherine Rains

The golden rule with teaching by type is to teach how your students learn, rather than how you like to teach. Some classes will have a dominant type, such as ESFJ for education, but most classes will have all types present, which means faculty need to teach to all four type learning styles.

So what does each type want? Let’s start with Introverted Sensing (IS), who prefers a very organized syllabus with clear expectations and goals set for the semester. They want to know EXACTLY what the faculty requires of them, with clearly written step by step instructions for completing assignments. Introverted Intuition (IN) wants a broad vision of what will be taught in the course, and then given the freedom to find a new way to learn the topic on their own. They thrive on independent study assignments where they can do it in their own creative way. Extraverted Intuition (EI) also wants to be given a broad vision for the class, and then be given the freedom to skip the directions and find a new way to learn the topic. They want to talk and try it out, starting with the big picture, with little details provided. And finally Extraverted Sensing (ES) wants lots of hands-on activities that produce practical results. They want step-by-step instructions for assignments and the freedom to try out what is being taught from the beginning.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Who is teaching ESTP and ESFP students?

Written by Catherine Rains
The most common preference for faculty in 4 year universities is INTP.  ESTP’s and ESFP’s share their Perceiving preference with the average faculty member, but their IN teaching style is oftentimes the issue.  IN faculty prefer to lecture, with a minimal amount of classroom discussion, and encourage independent study and reflective thought about the lectures.  Although perfect for INT or INF preference students, this isn’t so great for our students with ESTP and ESFP preferences.  However, faculty in many 2-year colleges DO match this group in learning/teaching style, and thus ESTP’s and ESFP’s are less likely to be as at-risk in community colleges.  Bottom line with teaching this group, and for that matter any student, is to teach according to how your primary student type likes to learn, rather than how the faculty likes to teach.  Since there are usually all four learning styles in every classroom, it is important to teach to these – IS, IN, EN, and ES.  Stay tuned for next week when we discuss how they each prefer to learn.