Although I'd agree that Coffield's findings are pretty convincing,
variations on some of these questionnaires and typologies can still be a
productive way to start a discussion with students to encourage them to
think about their own approaches to study, develop new strategies etc.
The main problems arise when these loose categories are given a
scientific weight they can't support or - as in some FE colleges (the
original context for Coffield's critique), teachers are required to use
them to plan their teaching.
The forthcoming LDHEN/ALDinHE symposium has received a number of
proposals for papers about ways of understanding how students learn so
there may well be an opportunity to include a roundtable discussion
looking at areas for future collaborative research. The detailed
programme will be announced shortly on the ALDinHE website at
http://www.aldinhe.ac.uk/ Meanwhile a reminder that you have only a
week left to benefit from the Early Bird reduction on the conference
fee!
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Pauline Ridley, Learning Area Co-ordinator (Visual Practices)
Learnhigher CETL, Centre for Learning and Teaching
Room 113, Mayfield House, Falmer Campus, University of Brighton Brighton
BN1 9PH
Telephone 01273-643406 Email [log in to unmask]
Visit the CLT website at http://staffcentral.brighton.ac.uk/clt
Visual Practices website http://staffcentral.brighton.ac.uk/learnhigher
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-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Hartley
Sent: 24 January 2008 13:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Learning styles
the most comprehensive survey of learning style questionnaires to date
(by Frank Coffield et al - google 'coffield learning styles' for the
sources)concluded that very few (only a couple and not including H&M)
had much convincing evidence to support their use. Is this an area where
we could work up some collaborative research looking at how
students/staff use these over time? A topic for the forthcoming Bradford
event?
Peter
Quoting "Cash, Caroline" <[log in to unmask]>:
> A colleague has been using a learning styles questionnaire with her
> students in an way that identifies a holistic way of working with
> students through an experiential and reflective model of learning.
> This is revisited and becomes an embedded part of the course structure
> through tutorials, self-evaluation and PDP. Feedback from the students
> who have taken part in this exercise has been very positive and my
> colleague would now like to explore this further across the faculty,
> but is wondering whether there are alternatives to the Honey & Mumford
> questionnaire that are worth considering for use in an extended
> exercise.
>
> Your advice will be much appreciated.
>
> Regards,
>
> Caroline Cash
> Research Fellow
> University College Falmouth
>
>
>
>
>
--
Peter Hartley
Professor of Education Development
Head of Teaching Quality Enhancement Group
School of Lifelong Education and Development
University of Bradford
BD7 1DP
Phone 01274 233293
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