Observing the great variety of learning styles exhibited by students, Fleming came to the same conclusion many faculty have reached: namely, that it seems unrealistic to hope to provide programs that can meet the needs of all these learning styles, to ask the teacher to forgo his strengths and become a presentational pretzel. Instead, Fleming thought, why not empower students by helping them identify their learning preferences, and offer them advice on how to utilize those in response to the different teaching styles they might encounter? If the responsibility for learning has really always lain with the student, the awareness derived from VARK merely highlights for students the tools they already like to use and how to use them better. An important feature of the VARK instrument (which Fleming likes to call a “catalyst” in contrast with an “inventory”) is the “study strategies” that accompany it.
Blog Archives
Decreased failure rate
I started using the VARK Learning Style Inventory about a year ago, for the specific purpose of increasing math proficiency in first-year engineering students in a nonprofit environment. I managed to combine VARK results with teaching strategies related to it. The results have been amazing: Student failure decreased by about 30%, teachers are happier and we’ve just been commissioned to design a project to support high schools in our community… For all of the above, many thanks.
Personal Profile feedback
Many thanks to you and the people behind making this service (VARK Profiles) available to those like me who want to learn more about themselves in an effort to learn how to better teach the students in our lives. This information is just fascinating to me.
Great tool for educators
Thank you so much for providing such a great tool for educators to use. I greatly appreciate it.
Positive feedback
My new nursing students have completed VARK and have submitted an assignment based on VARK results. Their feedback was positive, and I am enjoying reading all the analysis papers. Thank you so very much.
Excellence in Education Award
A couple of years ago we purchased your books on VARK and we also used your website to assess our students’ learning preferences. We made this a mandatory part of our course to teach our students independent learning skills. We were awarded an Excellence in Education Award from the Australian College of Educators. We try to encourage our students to understand how they learn and so go on to choose and plan their own learning.
They learn differently
My LD students are learning what their preferences are for learning. They are pretty excited when what the survey says fits. It’s nice to have a document that shows that they learn differently and not that they are incapable of learning.
Frustrated Learning
I wish somebody had introduced this to me before I had gone through fourteen years of frustrated learning. (I figured out how to learn my Junior Year of College) Thanks for this wonderful site and its wonderful tools!
VARK for improved teaching and learning at high school
I use VARK to help my students understand how they learn best. All of them seem to study for tests the same way — but with different results. If I can help them understand how they learn best, they can develop study skills that will help them for the rest of their lives. I know this may sound idealistic, but no one ever taught me how to study when I was in school. Through trial and error, I learned my strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Once I applied what I had learned about myself, I became a much better student. I want the same for my high school students. I want to do whatever I can to help them achieve success.
VARK with Apprentices
I hope to use VARK with some of our less able apprentices, to help identify their preferred learning styles so I can work with them to produce individual self-study programmes. My aim is to help bring them back up to a level with their brighter colleagues, rather than leave them behind and disheartened. I have only just discovered your questionnaires recently through my own teacher training course and after trying it on myself, I find it spookily accurate. It hasn’t cured my bad habits yet, but now I know about them! Thank you.