Lora:
Learning Style Inventory (with or without capital letters) is an important
pathway to education. Most learning styles are developed early in the
students career usually in the K-6 time frame. After that it is refined
and very little is added to it. There are specific pathways to learning
and what you will find is every person dealing with LSI has their own
specific TEACHING STYLE and therefore they feel that everyone they teach
has a complimentary learning style. Especially if they are successful. If
you want to see the utilization of various pathways see the works of
Gardner on Multiple intelligence's.
But that doesn't answer your question. You are dealing with adults. Look
up Knowles and Cross for adult learning traits. Adults in the job market
want to do two things, 1) direct their education process and 2) learn
those things specific for the job. This pattern is changing to a more
open long term learning environment, but mainly it is for the job that
most adults learn. Different professions DO have different LSI
requirements, however, are they reflective of the person or the
profession. As an example, I work in a hospital environment where I train
Nurses in various job related subjects. When these RNs began training
they were all taught the same way and found that to be successful at
Nursing they had to learn to think a certain way and act a certain way.
When they graduated and began to find careers in nursing they found them
selves working in various specialties; Emergency, Med-surg, Surgery,
OB-GYN, etc. To be successful in these areas they had to develop certain
personality traits and thus learning styles. When I get these persons
into one of my classes if I know they are from Emergency I might teach in
a rapid fire, no fooling around, all is business, In and out teaching
style to match their collective personality (?group culture?). A group
from Family Med would be more relaxed and open.
I think you will find this in all professions. There are some who will
say that the LSI/personality of the student at an early age will determine
the profession .... I do not think so. I know too many people in
professions where they are successful that DO NOT WANT TO BE THERE. They
got into the profession because of some external motivation and stayed
because they felt trapped. These people, however approach their learning
in the same manner as their colleagues because it is an attribute of the
profession NOT the individual. SO measuring early for a certain
LSI/personality to determine possible profession, or developing an
LSI/personality instrument for Human Resources as a guide for hiring may
not be as successful as it seems it would be.
However I am still learning and I like to be surprised by my lack of
knowledge. Keep us informed as to how things are going.
Bruce W. Jones
Organizational Development Specialist
Northwest Texas Healthcare System
Amarillo, Texas
brucej@nwths.com
brucewj@amaonline.com
http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/campus/7941
> I am a student at University of La Verne currently working on my senior
> project. My senior project is about the Learning Style Inventory and if
> there is a connection with professions. Do you have any current
> information on this topic? I have been having a problem finding updated
> information on this subject. I would appreciate any information you can
> provide to me.
--"Bruce Jones" <brucej@nwths.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>