Most things we do have an element of learning in them, whether we are learning through formal education or learning whilst at work.  Learning is an essential part of many modern jobs, and our learning styles also influence how we approach work and work with others with different styles – a skill valued very highly by many top organisations.

Learning is often described as happening as a cycle with four stages, and theories of learning styles argue that people differ in how comfortable they are with each of these four stages.  Put simply, different people prefer to learn in different ways!

Our personality preferences will influence which of the four learning stages we are more comfortable with or which style best matches our natural preferences – Activators, Clarifiers, Creators or Explorers.  Click on any circle to see the characteristics associated with each stage (a pop-up window will appear).

The theory of learning styles tells us that learning should be maximised when our preferences match our learning experiences.  When learning experiences do not match our preferred style we find learning more difficult or incomplete.

Understanding your learning styles therefore helps you to:

• recognise the ‘style’ of different learning situations;
• maximise learning when your preferred style matches the learning environment;
• recognise learning environments that you may find difficult;
• develop strategies to help deal with difficult learning environments;
• shape your personal learning environments and strategies to make learning most effective.

Remember, we can all learn in all environments.  Sometimes we just need to do things a bit differently or be prepared to work a little harder!

Using your results

Developing your style of learning to cope with different environments takes time and effort, but is an essential skill for both academic study and career development.  Try the following:

• identify the ‘style‘ of different learning environments you experience;
• work on the development suggestions in the learning styles reports;
• when starting new learning tasks, think about what styles will be most productive – don’t just use your preferred style;
• when working in groups, think about how each person contributes in terms of their learning style;
• think about your learning style in group tasks – what effect does this have on others?

The learning cycle can help us develop our skills in areas such as communication and working with others as well as learning.  Examples of areas you might want to think about include:

• Clarifiers and Creators tend to prefer to think things through before speaking; Explorers and Activators may be more willing to jump in and think aloud.  Think about how your preference relates to your communication – how you communicate and how you want others to communicate to you;
• each preference will bring something different and valuable to work activities.  Make sure each has a chance to contribute.  If some preferences are missing from a team valuable contributions may be missed, so it is important to be flexible in how you work so that all stages of the learning cycle are covered.