With the corporate world changing rapidly, training is becoming more critical. It enables employee growth and helps companies stay ahead of their competition. As more companies opt to go digital with courses, there are more moving parts than ever when delivering training to teams. However, not everyone learns using the same method. That is where learning styles come into the picture.
Understanding different learning styles isn’t an added task — it’s essential. As remote work and digital transformation define how we work, diversity of learning is just as important as any other type of inclusion. No two people learn the same way, and you get better results and happier employees when companies use this to their advantage.
So, how can businesses turn training into an asset for all types of learners? This blog will discuss strategies for building effective training for various learning styles. But first, let’s look at the types of learning styles.
What are the Different Learning Styles?
With the increased demand for eLearning, the training has now been customized to various learning needs. To put it in perspective, there are eight types of learning styles:
1) Visual: Visual learners relate more to videos, images, diagrams, charts, and other visuals. They appreciate visual language for putting images in their mind and recalling important concepts.
2) Auditory: Auditory or oral learners take information through talks, discussions or recordings. They might want to repeat the ideas aloud to help them remember.
3) Verbal: Verbal learners’ favorite learning styles are reading and writing. They’re rooted in reading and taking notes from books, articles, and lectures.
4) Kinesthetic: Kinesthetic learners learn best through hands-on experiences and real-world practice. They learn through on-the-job training and new simulations, role-playing and other hands-on experiences.
5) Social: Social learners excel in group environments through discussion, collaboration, and teamwork. They excel in areas such as brainstorming and peer-based learning.
6) Solitary: Solitary learners prefer to learn quietly and alone, with time to reflect. They excel at self-paced lessons and personal goal-setting activities.
7) Logical: Logical learners love data, structured content, and solving problems step by step. They emphasize reasoning and logical thinking to understand difficult concepts.
8) Naturalist: Naturalist learners are inspired by and learn by connecting with nature. They observe the patterns around them and use scientific reasoning to understand.
Strategies to Teach 8 Different Learning Styles in eLearning
To ensure eLearning is at its most efficient, it needs to accommodate a variety of learning styles. To get you started, here are personalized strategies for each style of learning:
1) Visual Learners
- Use charts (most learners will appreciate visual elements).
- Provide visual analogies and metaphors, which help to draw parallels in the learner’s mind and create visualizations.
- For more specific topics, it is recommended that the main points be written in front of the class along with graphics because they are helpful with visual cues.
- Replace color and image with words. This involves looking at your presentation or visualizing it.
- Use color or highlight text to draw attention to important points.
- Do not use long blocks of text.
- Include exercises in which the learners make mind maps.
- Take advantage of storytelling to aid in the visualization process.
- Use color and structure in any materials you give them, as this will help them organize things in their minds.
- Encourage imagery by using phrases like “Picture this” or “Let me see what you are going to do.”
2) Auditory Learners
- Allow your learners to share their thoughts during the conversation.
- Offer audiobooks where you find they are appropriate and necessary.
- Encourage learners to listen to music while reviewing material.
- Record your teaching sessions or upload your lessons to online programs. It also provides information on other kinds of training.
- Have learners work in pairs and teach each other the concepts.
- Encourage them to think through problems out loud.
- Encourage reading their notes back to themselves at home.
- Rhyme and mnemonic devices.
- If you are illustrating a story, play relevant sounds from your computer.
3) Verbal Learners
- Use verbal teaching and writing activities.
- Invite learners to share or to present the content they have learnt.
- Utilize the acronym devices or mnemonic devices.
- Get the class to read aloud.
- Encourage reading in a varied manner instead of monotone.
- Rehearse elevator pitches or interactions between employees and clients.
- Encourage learners to reread and rewrite their notes, adding summaries.
- Implement quizzes in lessons.
- Play sound while explaining a story to the learners.
4) Kinesthetic Learners
- Design interactive simulations and gamified learning activities.
- Convert notes into flashcards (scrabble and hang posters).
- Create models for the information as much as possible.
- Incorporate practical exercises, role-playing scenarios, and case studies.
- Provide opportunities for learners to engage with virtual labs or tools.
5) Social Learners
- Just be curious and ask learners thoughts about a concept/topic/idea.
- Encourage learners to toss ideas around with each other and discuss their ideas compared to others.
- Let learners talk and tell stories.
- Include group work.
- Engage in a role-play.
6) Solitary Learners
- Ask questions so you know what learners are thinking and feeling.
- Use independent thinking exercises.
- Since solitary learners are autonomy-oriented (they generally care about the outcome), state the relevance of the lesson material.
- Provide the class with ways to track their progress.
- Make new concepts connect with what they already learned/need to know.
7) Logical Learners
- Give the class problem-solving activities (if your learners can do group work).
- Give learners a chance to figure things out themselves.
- Make learners interpret abstract visual data.
- Make sure to incorporate critical thinking activities.
- Provide statistics and facts.
- Provide learners with evidence, then ask what conclusions they can suggest.
8) Naturalist Learners
- Incorporate experiments into your teaching.
- Make learners think that what you teach is a whole new ecosystem that they can build a mental model of by finding patterns. This will allow them to connect with ideas or concepts.
- Have exercises in which learners can recognize and classify.
- Try using examples of everyday life, human beings or flora/fauna related to your communication.
- Include real-world data, like case studies.
Conclusion
It is no longer good enough to offer eLearning courses that do not account for the types of learners. Appreciating and adapting to various learning styles in eLearning is key to any successful training program. Training is created for every learner with strategies for inclusion, engagement and impact. Besides better information retention, it also enhances satisfaction and performance at work.
Are you ready to radicalize your eLearning programs to address different learning styles? Discover our eLearning solutions and get training that works for everybody.
