If someone gives me directions to a farm, you are wasting your breath! Please just give me the address or print out the instructions! After the second turn, my brain has turned your words into the voice of the Charlie Brown teacher. Wha, wha, wha, wha….
However, I was able to tie my shoes the first try after being shown what to do ONE time and I can still tell you who the author was in my anatomy book in undergrad. It’s a good thing veterinary school wasn’t just a lecture….
So am I smart or am I dumb? Or do I just learn a certain way? And that is what this assessment is about. The three different ways we can learn and that some people have a tendency to learn in one specific way.
I took these examples from this website: http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-styles.shtml#:~:text=If%20you%20are%20a%20visual,see%20what%20you%20are%20learning.
Verbal
- These people learn best through their ears (clearly). They need you to explain the instructions to them. If this is your type, you learn by reading aloud and may hum or talk to yourself when bored.
Tactile
- These people learn best by doing things and not by listening or seeing it. They learn by using their hands and interacting with the task themselves. They may need to be active while learning new skills.
Visual
- These people need to learn by seeing the procedure or remember things better if it is written down or pictures. They can learn by verbal instructions as long as they have a visual or a previous visual experience to back up the information. These people may really need the written instructions for each task.
Do you recognize how the individuals in your team learn best? Do you change how you teach people on your team based on these or provide all three options to your team members who are learning a task on the farm?
In a new barn, if you told me where a sow was located in gestation, I have a 40% change of finding it (optimistically) and after getting lost a few times. If you showed me on a diagram, I would have a 90%+ change of finding it. I can learn, but maybe not in the way you presented the information to me. There are people on your team that have the same problem with how you are teaching them.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree, it will spend it’s whole life believing that it is stupid.” -Albert Einstein
Pigs and People 