The resources on this website are developed with students in mind, so the easiest way to use them is to send your students directly to this website. But our materials can also be useful when planning your classes.
How can our materials help?
By understanding and integrating the principles of learning styles and active learning into your teaching, you can not only improve your teaching but also help students improve their own learning practices. The information on our website can support you in providing the following things that students need in order to learn effectively.
The material to learn.
We don’t provide the learning content, but you can use our website for ideas about how to present it.
With an understanding of learning styles, you’ll be able to present material in various ways. You shouldn’t strive to match your presentation to the learning styles of the students. Instead, aim for variety – this keeps things interesting for the students and gives them experience with a range of different ways that information can be presented.
Have a look at our page on using learning styles for ideas about presenting information using the Visual, Aural, and Read/write modalities.
Motivation to learn.
Incorporating active learning techniques and considering different learning styles can help create a more engaging and effective learning environment. This can lead to increased student motivation.
Active learning techniques can help with student motivation by providing students with a more engaging and interactive learning experience. Active learning techniques are designed to encourage students to participate in the learning process by engaging them in activities that require them to think critically and creatively. This can help students develop a deeper understanding of the material and retain it better than passive learning techniques.
Learning styles can help students identify their preferred way of learning and tailor their study habits accordingly. This can help students feel more confident in their ability to learn and more motivated to engage with the material. For those students who feel discouraged about their learning, the idea that different people learn differently can be a revelation. It is empowering for them to find that they could improve their learning by trying different techniques.
A range of effective study strategies they can use.
Introduce your students to the concept of adapting their study practices to their own learning style by having them fill in the VAR+ Learning Styles questionnaire.
Discuss the value of active learning techniques with them. It may be helpful for them to fill in the Active Learning Questionnaire to get an idea of how actively they are currently studying.
Model active learning by incorporating active learning techniques in the classroom, through activities that you direct your students to do. Incorporate activities from our Active Learning list into your classes, tutorials, and assessment tasks.
Using a wide range of active learning strategies during class will give your students a good collection of strategies to choose from when they direct their own studies. What’s more, students will learn more during class when they are involved in active learning activities than if they are just listening or copying down notes.
Note though that active learning is harder work than passively listening – so it is important to explain to students why they are doing active learning activities.
Copyright Permission
You are welcome to use any of the resources on this website with your students, free of charge.
You may not replicate any of our resources – please send your students to our website to use the latest version of the resources.
If you would like to use any of our questionnaires in research, please write to us to request copyright permission.
