For most of us, we get conditioned to learn in a certain way when we’re at school but it isn’t always the right style to help you personally learn to best effect.
During the 1980’s, Honey and Mumford developed profiles of different learning styles to help people identify what sort of learners they are – the idea being that this can make learning easier, more effective and more enjoyable. It saves you tackling your learning on a hit-and-miss basis.
We know that the ACT exams are hard work and that studying whilst you are working in important roles, raising families and generally dealing with all that life throws at you can be a lot to take on. So we thought we’d introduce you to Honey and Mumford in this newsletter to see if we can make your life a little easier.
Activists learn best by doing. Activists need to get their hands dirty and leap into learning with little planning. If you are one, give yourself plenty of breaks or fill your learning with tasks so that you’re doing something other than reading – try setting yourself a quiz, do previous exam questions, use the online forum or go along to a tuition class if you can.
Reflectors learn by observing and thinking about what happened. Distance learning or self-study is particularly suitable for Reflectors as it gives the time and space to digest and think about the study materials.
Pragmatists need to be able to see how to put learning into practice in the real world. Pragmatists enjoy doing case studies and exercises as well as discussing how to apply the learning in work situations. Consider using our online forums to test out ideas with other learners and our tutors.
Theorists like to understand the theory behind things. They like models, concepts and facts so our self-study materials are well suited to this type of learning providing plenty of food for thought.
For those of you who are really keen, you can purchase an online questionnaire and try the Honey and Mumford quiz yourself to get feedback on your preferred style here. You get lots of feedback and hints on studying so it’s well worth a look and at just £11 good value for money too!
