Lead Balloons, Stone Canoes, and Learning Styles

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Lead Balloons, Stone Canoes, and Learning Styles
By Frank L. Greenagel
"The concept of learning styles has gained considerable attention in recent years, but it hasn't been a generative concept in e-learning. Most of the learning styles research has been in formal (classroom-based) education, which reinforces the idea that learning is basically an information transmission process. Other research in how people learn shows that most job-related proficiencies are learned outside the training room or seminar, and suggests that where the learning takes place and how it’s used is inextricably related to how adults learn. E-learning and blended learning practices ignore this phenomenon, and assume that everyone can learn from the information-transmission model, with the only variables being preparation, IQ,, and motivation. The real payoff from the Internet is going to occur when we use it to enlarge and sustain learning communities that develop within an organization or among a cohort."