Anita Hamilton, School of Health and Social Development,

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Understanding learning styles to enhance the
experience of being a first year occupational
therapy student
Anita Hamilton, School of Health and Social
Development, Faculty of Health, Medicine,
Nursing and Behavioural Sciences
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Typical profile of an OT student at Deakin

• Two thirds are school leavers, aged 17-18 at
  start of course
• 90 are female
• About 1/3 are from Geelong and district, 1/3 from
  Melbourne and 1/3 from country areas

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A comprehensive learning styles summary activity,
based on

• Honey, P. Mumford, A. (1986) Using-your
  Learning styles.
• Kolb D. A., (1984) Experiential Learning
  Experience as the Source of Learning and
  Development.

• De Bono, E. (1986) Six Thinking Hats.
• French, J. R. P. and Raven, B (1959) The Bases of
  Social Power.

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Today we have time to look at one aspect of the
learning style profile activity
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Understanding yourself as a learner
(Honey Mumford, 1992)
The results of the inventory give information
about learning style preferences.
This is used to participate in a significant
first semester group learning task.
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Profiles of Honey Mumfords learning styles
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Understanding others as similar learners
Students meet others in their tute-group with the
same learning style preference
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Understanding others as different learners
Students move to small work-groups which comprise
the four learning stylesThey discuss how their
style could be a strength and a weakness at
University
they will stay in these groups for the semester
to complete a significant assessment activity
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This activity has a range of outcomes!

• Students finish their first OT tutorial in first
  semester with the knowledge of
• An idea of learning their own style strengths
• Knowledge of others with a similar learning style
  
• A work group of about 5 students with whom they
  will complete a significant assessment task
• Time spent getting to know their group
• QA time on the assessment task!

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The task they will complete includes

• Creating a tutorial designed to meet the learning
  styles of students in the tute group
• Creating a tutorial designed to demonstrate
  understanding of group work process
• Creating a tutorial that demonstrates emerging
  knowledge of the role of group work in OT
  practice
• Developing a reflective journal that discusses
  the above issues plus reflections on working
  together as a team

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Types of groups the students ran

• Therapeutic pot plants
• Healthy eating
• Balloon animal making
• Pilates
• Leadership and teamwork games

• Relaxation techniques
• How to juggle life and juggling balls!
• Scrap booking
• Goal setting

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Student Reflections
I really love leading a group!

• Students complete a group reflection journal on
  working with people with different learning
  styles. How they found it and what they learned

It was great working in a team I could never
achieve that on my own
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Student reflection is important
When working with a theorist I need to be patient

• Students who are aware of their own learning
  strengths, preferences and limitations can more
  effectively participate in and influence their
  learning outcomes.

(Activist learner)
It was great to know how to work with others,
knowing their learning style really made sense
This knowledge and skill is then available as
graduates
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Teacher Reflection
I am a pragmatist and need to be careful about my
style when trying to engage all my students

• Teachers who continually review and reflect upon
  their teaching style and practice, are more
  likely to provide a range of approaches to
  learning assessment, leading to facilitation of
  learning through student-centered learning
  environments

(Biggs, 2003).
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Can we use knowledge of learning style to
progress from student of occupational therapy to
artist of occupational therapy?

• Attitudes
• Reasoning
• Theory
• Investigation
• Skills
• Thinking

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ARTIST

• Attitudes towards people with a disability
• towards the concept of health
• Reasoning how students explain clinical
  decision making
• Theory how models relate to practice
• Investigation conducting research to increase
  the body of evidence in OT using evidence
  to support practice
• Skills technical hands-on skills
  communication skills
• Thinking problem solving critical reflection
  on practice

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Questions, comments, ideas