Navigating Educational Influences from Childhood to University

Introduction

My learning style has changed greatly throughout the years from Primary stage school to higher education. Education has been playing a crucial role in my life since the age of six, with certain teachers and experiences having a major influence on my life. In the beginning, I started my education abroad in Bangladesh. Therefore, Bengali was my first language. Over there, I did Quran studies, which were prioritised over standard education, later on I study in the UK which can be difficult since I did not partake in formal education, and because of that there was a huge language barrier since I did not know how to speak in English. Back in Bangladesh most of my knowledge was achieved and delivered through auditory and visual learning style. However, kinaesthetic learning style was one of my most preferred learning styles throughout my childhood and it was used quite often as well. Now by being a University student, I am more committed with verbal and social learning style.

Part 2: Learning Style analysis

In reference to the article of Mearman, Webber, Ivleves, Rahman and Pacheco, the different learning styles are vast and varied. Honey and Mumford focused on learning styles, arguing there were four (activists, reflectors, theorists, and pragmatists), while other studies focused on heterogeneity and motivational reasons behind attendance to lectures. I am of the view that motivational factors are the prime instigators for learning, and Dolnicar’s categorisation into six groups is accurate and representative for all the students. His first group, the “idealists”, enjoyed and were enthused by lectures; they were most likely to be older students that were in the Arts Faculty (Dolnicar, 2004; Dolnicar, 2005). The second group, called “pragmatics”, were took to a balanced approach to learning, with the aim of achieving something beyond and therefore do not necessarily value the enjoyments of the degree itself, but endure it to “get through it” knowing it is required for their future career aspirations, hence why some have said this to be an unfavourable approach (Biggs, 1999; Cooke, Stroup and Harrington, 2019). The third group is called “averagely motivated students”, who prefer to support as opposed to learning alone, and therefore find lectures more useful and important (Dolnicar, 2004). The following group is called “fundamental oriented students” who share the main pragmatic lecture attendance motives; additionally, this means regular attendance is necessary to be able to learn the vital concept of the subject (Broido and Schreiber, 2016). The fifth group is called “minimalists” only attend lectures, so they do not miss important information. And the last one “everything but pleasure” they have high attendance to learn fundamental principles, to not miss significant information (Roberts and Komives, 2016). However, they do not get enjoyment from the lectures. Mismatch between students preferred learning style and lectures teaching style will determine student academic performance (Chetty, et al. 2019)

My preferred learning style is one of dependency and reliance on others who are more informed than me, so I believe I fall into the category in between “pragmatics” and “averagely motivated students”. This is because I share traits in both, as I have future career aspirations of being a pilot and therefore I know the degree and elements of the course are required for me to achieve this higher goal. I also find that, the lectures are beneficial because I would not be efficient to work well without basic knowledge and information in professional field. I would also say I share the same factors mentioned by Honey and Munford’s categorisation, as I share elements of the “reflectors” and “pragmatist” categories in those. For instance, I need to analyse and process information, before I can make a better judgement, but at the same time, there are moments where I am cautious as a result of being uncertain about my judgement, and in that case I am not as assertive as I want to be. There are also pragmatist elements, in that I test and practice things out before making a judgement, but there are certain elements to my learning style that are unique to me. I believe I am more “people orientated” rather than “task orientated”, and I feel that with the help of others, which are smarter and knowledgeable in a topic, it is possible to elevate my learning.

Part 3: Conclusion

There are certainly areas of improvement in my learning style, some being more straightforward than others. There are obvious weaknesses that need to be improved, like my time management and the ability to work independently. It is also necessary for me to improve my efficiency so that I can work more reductively. In this regard, I need to improve time management skill and my own capabilities to work which would be helpful for me to enhance my productivity and performance. I think this is the most difficult area to improve as it is arbitrary and difficult to predict how I can improve my capabilities day by day. For performance management, I would like to maintain day to day operations and review my performance on a daily basis in order to maximise my skill set and efficiency in long run.

Take a deeper dive into Multimodal learning approach in the nursery education with our additional resources.

Part 4: Reference List

Broido, E.M. and Schreiber, B., 2016. Promoting student learning and development. New Directions for Higher Education, 2016(175), pp.65-74.

Cooke, L., Stroup, C. and Harrington, C., 2019. Operationalizing the concept of critical thinking for student learning outcome development. Journal of Nursing Education, 58(4), pp.214-220.

Mearman, A., Webber, D. J., Ivlevs, A., Rahman, T. and Pacheco, G., 2003. Understanding student attendance in Business Schools: an exploratory study. Bristol: UWE

Roberts, D.C. and Komives, S.R., 2016. Internationalizing student learning and development. New Directions for Higher Education, 2016(175), pp.9-21.