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Recognizing and using learning style differences to convert training to knowledge |
K. M. SCHAICH, Dept. of Food Science, Rutgers, The State Univ. of New Jersey, 65 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8520 We are currently exposed to more information in a year than people two centuries ago were in their entire lifetime, and the information we are expected to process keeps increasing. We are constantly being challenged to learn new material and develop new skills, to continually educate and re-educate ourselves and our employees in new directions. Education and training has traditionally been based on the premise that knowledge can be transmitted directly from teacher to student, that any student with a modicum of intelligence will just absorb the information and understand it immediately. When the process doesn't work, it is the student who is assumed to be defective. However, research shows that learning involves making connections on multiple levels and that individuals have different learning styles -- i.e. different ways of absorbing, connecting, storing, and using new information. Any education/training program in academia or in industry, therefore, must tap into these different learning styles to be effective. Contemporary learning theory is not limited to the university classroom, but can also be applied to the industrial training setting to create more effective and dynamic programs that make continual learning exciting and stimulating. Active learning environments, learning goals as positive incentives, use of different learning styles (e.g. auditory, visual, verbal, tactile, hands-on, right-brain vs left brain, practical vs theoretical, concrete vs abstract), teaching strategies that reach all learning styles, and appropriate reward systems will be reviewed as critical components of all education programs. Papers following in this session will provide examples of how these concepts have been applied successfully in industry.
Session 37, Industrial training: Enhancing organizational knowledge
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