Semester 2, Assignment 1: Learning Styles

For our first assignment of the semester, we were asked to complete a questionnaire known as the VARK test, which would give us an indication of our learning style, of which there were 4 possible outcomes: (text taken from Design Studies Handbook)

ACTIVISTS
They involve themselves fully and without bias in new experiences. The immediate is important to them, enjoying the here and now. They are open minded and enthusiastic about new things with a 'I'll try anything once' philosophy. Activists are people who act first and consider the consequences afterwards so they are busy on- the-go tackling problems by brain storming. They like having other people around, involving themselves with others, at the same time seeking to centre all activities on themselves.

REFLECTORS
They are ponderous about experiences and observe them from many different perspectives. They methodically go about collecting and analysing data and this is the aspect they enjoy, postponing reaching definitive conclusions for as long as possible. They have a cautious philosophy and tend to take a back seat in meetings and discussions. They listen to the arguments before contributing to the discussion. They adopt a low profile and have a slightly indifferent, unruffled air about them. They act within a context of the past as well as the present and include other's observations as well as their own.

THEORISTS
They create complex, but logically sound theories from their adaptations and interpretations of observations. They are logical, step-by-step people who assimilate all sorts of facts into coherent theories. Theorists are perfectionists who want everything to be tidily fitted into a rational scheme. They like to analyse and synthesise. Questions they frequently ask are 'Does it make sense?' 'What are the basic assumptions?' Their philosophy is based on rationality.

PRAGMATISTS
They want to see if ideas, theories and techniques work in practice. They seek out new ideas and take the opportunity to try them in practice as soon as possible. They like to get on with things and act quickly and confidently. They take ideas away from courses, events, discussions and at the earliest opportunity experiment with them in practice. They want to get on with things, so are impatient with long winded discussions.

My results were:
ACTIVIST: low
REFLECTOR: moderate
THEORIST: very low
PRAGMATIST: moderate

As I was not particularly drawn in one particular learning style, the results would suggest that I am multimodal learner, which means I can adapt my learning style to the task in hand.

The rest of my group's results:
Sophie: REFLECTOR
Samantha: REFLECTOR
Robbie: ACTIVIST
Sarah: REFLECTOR?THEORIST
David: ACTIVIST

The majority of our group are REFLECTOR learners.