Benchmark - Teaching Diverse Learners Presentation: Diverse characteristic and learning style

Benchmark - Teaching Diverse Learners Presentation
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Diverse characteristic and learning style
The selected population is nursing students of diverse backgrounds and while most are in their early 20s, other late teens, others in their thirties, there are diverse learners with various learning styles. Learning styles reflect approaches to learning situations where preferences, characteristics, and strengths of how they learn, acquire, store and process the information (McKenna et al., 2018). There are diverse learning style models and one of the most common is the VARK modality that identifies four learning styles, visual (V); aural (A); reading/writing (R), and kinesthetic (K) (Husmann & O'Loughlin, 2019). Visual learners tend to learn the best when they see something, while auditory learners learn the best when hearing and the kinesthetic/tactile learners learn through a hands-on approach.
Kolb and Mumford are some of the theorists who proposed a learning styles model that reflected distinct learning styles and preferences (McKenna et al., 2018). Motivation is an important element to effective learning as there is most motivated learners need to learn better Repeated learning situations increase knowledge, competencies, and skills, but having an active or reflective aptitude for learning makes it easier to learn. There are individual learning processes and understanding what motivates the students can help explain their learning styles and situations that necessitate them to modify their learning.
Nature and nurture affect learning styles and it is necessary to consider how the preferences influence learning and whether this is linked to their backgrounds. Differences in the learners’’ backgrounds reflect the level of diversity. For instance, those used to rote memorization and those used to reflective thinking have different approaches to learning and this is also reflected in their choices of learning styles. Teachers also have their preferred learning styles that may influence teaching and learning.
Learning partly depends on individual characteristics and the contexts where a person is situated, the students learn from the environment, but they are also active participants in the learning process. There are no significant differences between how male and female learners perceive or process what they have learned, but they may have a preference for certain learning styles over others. however, regardless of the learning style, active learning has a more positive impact on learning outcomes when compared to passive learning (Luc & Antonoff, 2016). The students’ learning styles may affect their preference for certain course contents based on teaching and learning.
Nursing students have their own learning style whether there is a preference for certain learning styles over others. As nurses attain more skills and develop competencies, they may modify their learning preferences, become more observant as well as, analysis facts and information in a systematic and logical manner. Ideally, students ought to achieve deep learning and knowledge of the course content over time, while also integrating previous knowledge, but diversity means that there are differences in how they learn. Comparing whether the nursing students at different levels of education rely on different learning styles can provide insights on the extent to which there are changes in applying and putting into practice what they have learned.
Teaching strategies on nursing students
 Using a student-centered approach, multisensory learning approach, and promoting student engagement in teaching are useful teaching strategies to promote learning. The student-centered teaching approach takes into consider...