Number 216 - May 2001

Online Education Part II - Learning Styles
by Jacqueline Cohen, dacs.doc electric May 2000
This is a brief introduction to the learning styles and a listing of a few courses representing them. The four primary learning styles are Visual, Aural, Read/Write and Kinesthetic. Explore the links to learn more and enjoy! Learning Styles sites     Let's Learn About Learning Styles http://members.aol.com/ PegFlint/ homeschool_ learning styles.html. This site was created for home school use -- to help parents identify their child's learning style -- it gives a very simple introduction to different learning styles in an outline format. Very clear and easy to understand.     Learning Styles, Culture and Hemispheric Dominance www.geocities.com/ ~mathskills/ brain.htm Left-right Brain chart on a musical page. It links back to Professor Freedman's Math Help page www.geocities.com/~mathskills/. This is a great math tutorial page to help students overcome math anxiety. It is aimed at adult community college students and shows how taking account of different learning styles in course design can benefit students.     Take the VARK Inventory (http://www.active -learning -site.com/ vark.htm). Take the VARK Inventory to help identify your preferred teaching and learning style --Visual, Aural, Read/Write or Kinesthetic. This is a great site--fun too!     Here are some examples of online courses: Visual learning     Courses use visual aids to represent ideas instead of words.     Welcome to HemoSurf, An Interactive Atlas of Hematology http://www.aum.iawf.unibe.ch/ vlz/ bwl/ Haematologie/ index.htm. In German, English and French--very interactive-- simple-to-use site but demonstrates complex examples of hematology. It is quite kinesthetic as well as visual. The Visible Embryo     http://www.visembryo.com/ baby/. The opening screen is a spiral, which represents the 23 stages of the first trimester of pregnancy and every two weeks of the second and third trimesters. There are 40 links to the different stages--there are even some games you can play and synchronous chats with doctors. Informative site. Aural learning     Courses use sound to transfer information--speaking/listening Learn Spanish: A Free Online Tutorial     http://www.studyspanish.com/ tutorial.htm. Over 60 lessons, with practice exercises, listening and oral practice (listen and repeat), tests, links to cultural notes, teacher resources, vocabulary, and fun games. A very impressive site. I wish there was one this good for Mandarin Chinese! History and Scope of Microbiology     http://project.bio.iastate.edu/ Courses/ MIPM302/ History/ Lecture.html. RealAudio is used to provide approximately 30-minute lectures for each unit. This course offered by Iowa State University requires the student to listen to the audio, as the slide for each unit only has notes. Read/Write Learning     Courses use written words to convey information. The Writing Machine     http://ec.hku.hk/ writing machine/ The Writing Machine is an Internet resource created at the English Centre, at the University of Hong Kong. It offers a self-access course and resources to writing research papers. Designed for EFL students, but useful for native speakers too! English Through the Internet     http://mofetsrv.mofet.macam98.ac.il/ ~elaine/ eti/ welcome.html. This class involves teacher trainees and EFL students--training them both to learn about the Internet, while the teacher trainee helps the EFL student with their reading skills. An interesting concept, which shows that reading and writing need not be an isolated learning experience. Kinesthetic Learning     Courses transfer information through experience--hands-on, examples, practice and doing. The Interactive Patient     http://medicus.marshall.edu/ mainmenu.htm. "The Interactive Patient" at Marshall University School of Medicine. This is a cool site--it simulates real patient interaction and gives a medical student, or you, a chance to make a diagnosis. I hope that this doesn't replace real patient/doctor contact--but it makes for a great site!	An Introduction to Macromedia Authorware     http://nebula .macromedia .com/ pathware4/ student/ default.htm. Macromedia's own course in Authorware --this is the most hands-on course I have been able to find. It really shows the potential that multimedia has in an educational setting. The Interactive Frog Dissection - An Online Tutorial     http://curry .edschool .virginia .edu/ go/ frog/. Designed to use in a high school biology class, it offers a great alternative to dissection. I wish a program like this had been around when I was in high school, Instead, I went to the library and wrote a report on why frogs should live in their natural environment! At Home in the Heartland Online     www .museum .state .il .us/ exhibits/ athome/ welcome.htm. An online exhibit of life in Illinois from 1700 to the present--meet real people and help them make decisions about what to do. This site brings history to life! For an article relating to this site, surf to www.tech learning.com/ db_area/ archives/ WCE/ archives/ lewis.htm. The VARK Inventory     www.active- learning- site.com/ vark.htm. This is a great way to introduce teachers to some of the many different learning styles. The Website is a great one because it is geared towards educators. Professor Freedman's Math Help Page     www.geocities.com/ ~math skills/. This is a page I really wish I had had when I was a student. It is one of the first sites I have seen that really makes math approachable for those of us who are not very natural with numbers. It is really a super site. I will pass it on to the math teachers and use it as an example to show how it is possible to modify presentations to meet the needs of a variety of learners. The Visible Embryo     http://www.visembryo.com/ baby/. This site will be recommended to the science teachers at my school, as well as to every local friend who is starting a family. I traditionally give a copy of the book What to Expect When You Are Expecting, but now I will have to give this link to my long distant friends! The Spanish Tutorial     http://www.studyspanish.com/ tutorial.htm. This is a really super site. It really shows how language can be taught on the Web. It will also be a site I use to brush up on my own language skills. The Writing Machine     http://ec.hku.hk/ writing machine/. Here is a site I already recommend to my students and EFL teachers. The self-access materials are helpful and demonstrate how a site can be designed to benefit students of all learning levels and speeds. Macromedia's course in Authorware,     http://nebula.macromedia.com/ pathware4/ student/ default.htm. This is the one course listed above that I have actually taken. For anyone who is interested in authoring, it is a superb site. After completing the interactive lessons, one is sure to feel more comfortable with Authorware and aware of the potential for multimedia in the online learning environment. The Interactive Frog Dissection     http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/ go/ frog/. Here is the one site that makes me wish I was a secondary school student again. A fabulous site which breaks the traditional idea that dissection was the one learning experience for which there was no replacement. At Home in the Heartland Online     http://www.museum.state.il.us/ exhibits/ athome/ welcome.htm. This site really lets the student get a feel for life in the past. This is another site which shows how technology can give students an experience they otherwise could not have.     I found that exploring all of the above sites, and others, was fun as well as educational. It would be easy to spend a solid week exploring courses, but I fear by the end of it, I would be registered for quite a few as well! Enjoy Explore and Expand your mind.     When this article was written, Jacqueline Renee Cohen lived in Hong Kong and was involved with online education as a student and facilitator. She then worked on her second MS, in Online Teaching and Learning from CSU Hayward (www.online. csuhayward.edu). -- online of course! She also taught and facilitated an onground online course at Hong Kong University. You can learn more about Jacqueline and see what a poor Web designer she is by visiting Jacqueline's World at www.jaqatac.com.     Now graduated, Jacqueline (jrc@net dimensions.com) is the Client Services Manager for NetDimensions. NetDimensions designs and produces the Enterprise Knowledge Platform, a 100% JAVA learning management system for global companies. For more information please refer to: www.netdimensions.com.
Number 216 - May 2001