It was probably in the mid-90’s that I first heard about learning styles. I was early in my time in the training and development department of a large nonprofit foundation. Our manager at the time introduced us to the idea of learning styles at a team retreat. Like everyone else, I went along with it. Team player and all that however it felt like hokum to me.
Spoiler alert: it is. There has never been a study that shows learning styles really exist. Studies have shown that after giving an assessment and having an identified preference, students used techniques that appeal to other styles successfully. Additionally students who were taught according to their preferences did no better than those who weren’t. Humans are multi-sensory creatures.
In the magic world, there’s persistent argument of which is better – book or. video? Many lament that they prefer video because they are visual learners. My first question is isn’t reading visual? Secondly I wondered whether it’s laziness as watching a video and mimicking it is much easier than reading and working through the author’s description.
Like most things in life, it isn’t that one way of learning is better than the other. It depends upon the situation. Sometimes books are better and other times videos are better. It’s probably best to use both.
