LSI Learning Styles

Keeping in mind that self-report should always come with a caveat, I think that when it comes to Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory (LSI), my learning preference is diverging – feeling/watching, the balance between concrete experience and reflective observation. I think that probably bleeds into the way I facilitate as well, but I can see where a more well-rounded approach would be very useful.

(Image from https://learningfromexperience.com/themes/kolb-learning-style-inventory-lsi/)

Experience Based Learning Systems has a survey area that allowed me to take the Kolb Educator Role Profile (KERP), and the findings were interesting. Link: Learning From Experience Survey

Results: My style as an educator, based on the questions, is that of coach/facilitator. Interestingly, it’s somewhat different from my learning preference. The coach ‘side’ falls into active experimentation and concrete experience, while the facilitator falls into concrete experience and reflective observation. Both, however, are more learner focused, which I think makes a lot of sense. When it comes to fostering growth in those areas which I am not strongest (critical thought and logic, for example, as the ‘expert’), there were a variety of suggestions which could help in future classes. One of the things that stuck out the most was the suggestion to “assist learners in connecting new material to previous knowledge.” One of the things that is heavily on my mind as our newest product release heads toward us like the train we know it is, I think it’s time for an overhaul of how we teach our classroom course. I think the initial course as it stands now was written by our tech writers who provide the administration guide, and content actually reads very much like the admin guide reads, chapter by chapter. I think there’s a better way to go about it, a way to start at the top with basics and then start branching out into areas with more complexity. The great part about that is, as the only customer-facing instructor, the content is up to me to decide upon. I think there are ways that I could put material together that would end up making sense but also building upon existing knowledge.

I think that the coach/facilitator type of teaching style would also help me greatly in personal pursuits as well. While the driving influence behind attending this program at CSU is to help make me better at my day job, there’s no reason why I wouldn’t be able to use those same skills and that same understanding about how people learn for a private cause as well.