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Appropriate technologies for vocational students

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Saved by jclark
on April 29, 2010 at 10:50:42 pm
 

When an instructional designer is designing course content they must choose the delivery method that will yield the best outcome.  This decision needs to take into account the target audience’s personality type and learning style.  Without a good understanding of the audience we will design instruction based on our own experiences and this may create a less than optimal course.

 

To masters in the field of learning/career psychology are Holland and his Theory of Vocational Personalities and Kolb and his Learning Style Inventory.   Holland’s theory basically states that people fall into six vocational personalities and that a person will find greater job satisfaction if they work in harmony with there personality.  In reciprocal, vocations reflect certain traits that will attract and satisfy specific personalities (Nauta, 2010). 

“The theory’s core idea is that most people resemble a combination of six personality types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional (commonly abbreviated with the acronym RIASEC).” (Nauta, 2010)

 

 

Visit http://www.career-resource.net/theory.php for more on RIASEC.  When designing course content and delivery method for vocation students it is important to consider the vocational personality of the career the student is training for.



Kolb’s learning style inventory was first created in 1971 and was revised in 1984.  It is used to identify the four different ways that people learn.  The four learning styles are Accommodating, Diverging, Converging, and Assimilating.

            "Accommodating.  The Accommodating style’s dominant learning abilities
are Concrete Experience (CE) and Active Experimentation (AE).  People with this
learning style have the ability to learn from primarily “hand-on” experience. 
They enjoy carrying out plans and involving themselves in new and challenging
experiences.
            Diverging.  The Diverging style’s dominant learning abilities are Concrete
Experience (CE) and Reflective Observation (RO).  People with this learning
style are best at viewing concrete situations from many different points of view.
            Assimilating.  The Assimilating style’s dominant learning abilities are
Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and Reflective Observation (RO).  People with
this learning style are best at understanding a wide range of information and
putting into concise, logical form.
            Converging.  The Converging style’s dominant learning abilities are
Abstract Conceptualization (AC) and Active Experimentation (AE).   People with
this learning style are best at finding practical uses for ideas and theories.  They
have the ability to solve problems and make decisions based on finding solutions
to questions or problems." (Sternberg, & Zhang, 2001)

 



In a recent study by Threeton and Walter (2009) they were able to show a correlation between personality types, using Holland’s Self-Directed-Search, and learning styles, based on Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory.  In regards to personality type, they found that automotive students are predominantly Realistic.  Based on Holland’s Theory of Vocational Personalities, people whose personality is considered Realistic would generally rather work with things than people (Holland, 1997).  These findings are significant, as 85% of automotive students may be considered Realists.  In regards to learning styles though, such dramatic conclusions cannot be drawn. 

 

While the Accommodating learning style was the preferred learning style, it only represented 39.8% of the students surveyed.  The remaining three styles, Diverging, Assimilating and Converging, were fairly evenly distributed.  It would not be wise for an Automotive Technology professor to exclude any one learning style when preparing for class (Threeton & Walter, 2009). 

 

When one looks more carefully at the characteristics of the top two learning styles, we can get a better understanding of the students being reached.  Accommodators are “feeler-doers” (Kirby, 1979 p.77).  They learn by touching and taking things apart.  If given a problem they would ask, “ If I do this, what possibilities will it create?” (McCarthy, 1997 p.49).  These people are anxious to tear into a problem.  They call upon past experience and intuition to figure out a problem. 

 

Converges, on the other hand, are “thinker-doers” (Kirby, 1979 p. 75).  They can think about problems or theories and how to apply it in a tangible way.  These people will research a problem before attempting to tackle it.  They learn by studying how something works and the theories behind it.  It is important for them to apply their knowledge in a real and practical way.

 

In either case, the students are “doers” and, therefore, need action in order to create a positive learning environment.  This means that technology to be successful, the student must be actively involved in their learning and a real application must be offered.  This could include computer simulation of real world problems that would challenge the student’s problem solving skills.  The use of training simulator that is hands-on but can but configured into simulate a multitude of possible testing scenarios would meet the hands-on and problem solving need of the automotive learner.


Bibliography

 

Nauta, M. (2010). Journal of counseling psychology. The Development, Evolution, and Status of Holland’s Theory of Vocational Personalities: Reflections and Future Directions for Counseling Psychology, 57(1), 11-22.

 

The Regents of the University of California, Initials. (Artist). (2008). Holland code image. [Web]. Retrieved from http://career.sa.ucsb.edu/careerlibrary/Images/holland_codes.gif

 

Sternberg, R.J., & Zhang, L.F. (2001). Perspectives on thinking, learning, and cognitive styles. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

 

Kirby, P. (1979). Cognitive learning style, and transfer skill acquisition. The National Centre for Research in Vocational Education, The Ohio State University.

 

McCarthy, B. (1997). A Tale of four learners: 4mat’s learning styles. Educational Leadership, 54(6), 46-51.

 

Threeton, M, & Walter, R. (2009). The Relationship between personality type and learning style: a study of automotive technology students. Journal of Industrial Teacher Education, 46(2), 48-74.

 

Holland, J. (1997). Making vocational choices: a theory of vocational personalities and work environments. Psychological Assessment Resources

 

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