Multimodal Me

As part of a discussion on learning styles I participated in today, I took the VARK assessment of my own learning styles.  I've always considered myself a very visual person: I like to make things look pretty, I admire the pretty works of others, and of course I spend a lot of time reading.

The test measures four aspects: Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic.  (Hence the scary acronym.)  One thing I appreciated about the test was that I was able to check more than one response to the questions posed, which is truly a liberating feeling on a multiple-choice test.

I was surprised by a couple of things.  One was how high my kinesthetic score was--it lagged behind the top (Reading/Writing) by only one point.  Now I flash back to how many times I've "learned by doing," especially with practical skills like knitting or cooking, and that makes sense to me.

The other surprise was just how clustered my scores were.  Auditory was lowest, no big surprise.  But it wasn't too far off from the others, and the other three were all within one point of one another.  The lovely answer that the website spit out for me was not that I fit into any one neat category, but rather I'm "multimodal."  

So, apparently, are most people: 60% of the population, according to the fact sheet of helpful explanation linked above.  Also, "One interesting piece of information that people with multimodal preferences have told us is that it is necessary for them to use more than one strategy for learning and communicating. They feel insecure with only one. Alternatively those with a single preference often 'get it' by using the set of strategies that align with their single preference."

Absolutely!  I definitely am an over-compensator when it comes to explaining things to others, or making information available.  This is very likely a strength to have as a teacher, but it's still nice to have a language to explain why I teach the way I do (other than just "wacky").

Illustration

Toy #1, subject of much discussion in FLC that I will continue to mull over and write more on soon: www.wordle.net


I'd like to keep posting Wordles of this blog, to see how if themes begin to emerge as it grows.  Here's version 1.

Is this thing on?

One factor that makes my awesome job awesome is the Faculty Learning Community that I've been participating in since Winter Quarter, 2010. This fabulous group of 12 people from various levels, departments, and perspectives on teaching & learning has been coming together every two weeks on Friday evenings at a local cafe. Who ever heard of such a large group voluntarily getting together late on Fridays? That itself says a lot about the group and its dynamics and dedication. We all wrangle with technology in the classroom, and what the appropriate levels are to optimize engagement while still getting serious work done--all with copious amounts of coffee, tea, fresh foods and treats.


Last night was my turn to facilitate the discussion, so I brought in a bunch of web tools and widgets I've been using over the past year, some with smashing success and others that I'm not quite happy with yet. I was encouraged by the rest of the group to broadcast these experiments. Yup, they told me to start a blog. And here I am.


Jo's got outcomes hammered into my brain, so I have to consider what my goals for myself and my writing here are. In no particular order of importance, I'd like to

• profile websites, widgets, and gizmos that catch my eye
• examine potential or real applications in the classroom
• share what others have been doing with similar technology
• allow lots of room for tangents

I also know that I work better with deadlines, so I'm going to try to make a schedule and stick to it. I'll aim for one post a week, and we'll see how it goes. I appreciate nudges if I fall off track.