Learning Styles IVSA Standing Committee on Veterinary Education
How do you learn best?
The average student retention rates
Learning Styles There are 8 main styles of studying: 1. Visual
5. Solitary
2. Verbal
6. Social
3. Musical/Auditory
7. Logical
4. Physical
8. Combination
Blended learning, do you like these? Teacher led instructions
Computer Assessment
Printed Material
Face to face sessions and discussions
Digital, Visual, Elearning, feedback, reflection, outcome
Traditional lecture handouts, textbooks,
Interactive
By studying Veterinary Medicine, you are inundated with textbooks and lectures to go over. We inevitably get into this train of robotic studying. But do we really digest it well and let it sit in the mind for the long run or are we studying to regurgitate the information in order to pass the challenging exams? Which one are you? We need to start and continue to not let examinations pressurize us to learn in the fastest but less efficient way. We need to find our own individual study skills and learning tools and utilize them to the maximum, so we can improve the quality of our revision and understanding of Veterinary Medicine. So when we go into clinics, we remember more and can apply our knowledge with ease.
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Lets explore the different learning aids‌ 1. Verbal Words are your strong point! You prefer to use words both in speech and in writing.
2. Visual You prefer to use pictures, diagrams, mindmaps, images, and spatial understanding to help you learn.
3. Auditory You prefer using sounds, music and rhythms to help you learn.
4. Physical/Active You use your hands, body and sense of touch to help you learn. You might act things out, or teach someone using a whiteboard.
5. Solitary You like to work alone as you concentrate better. You get distracted by other people easily. You use self-study and prefer your own company when learning.
6. Social You like to learn new things as part of a group. Explaining your understanding to a group helps you to learn. You enjoy seminars and group teachings. This is most useful for developing practical skills.
Did you find what styles suit you best? Try them out!
7. Logical
Utilize your most successful learning styles so you can retain more knowledge for the long run!
Learning is easier for you if you use logic, reasoning systems and sequences.
A lot of veterinary teaching involves practical work and learning these invaluable practical skills for when we qualify is important.
8. Combination
It is most likely the case your learning style is a combination of 2 or more of these styles. E.g. So why not make time once a week to study with you like to study by yourself and create mindyour friends on clinical skills e.g. watching videos on maps and then reconsolidate the information via teaching others to explain your understanding. Intravenous catheter placement and then talk through how you would do it, or maybe show or talk about how you would auscultate the chest of a horse and what you are looking for? 2
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A handy checklist to see your strengths in each learning style
Take the Learning Style Questionnaire: http://www.staffs.ac.uk/sgc1/faculty/personalskills/documents/learning_styles_questionnaire.pdf 3
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Revision Case Study You have to study all of Pathology for your finals in January. It’s December now, what do you do?
1. Come up with a study/revision timetable plan! Get a calendar or make an A4 dairy of the days up to January exams. Write the exams in each date. 2. Reflect on what you want to achieve per week and write what you will study per day. Some people like to study a different subject each day and others like to study a bit of each subject per day. 3. Make it happen! Use Wikivet, Vetstream and your textbooks to help you study. Ensure you have regular breaks, a 10 minute break every hour! In those 10 minutes do something different like play an instrument or do some exercise. Your brain can only concentrate 50 minutes at a time. When you study don’t be shy to speak out load and pretend to teach someone using some paper, chalkboard or whiteboard. 4. Don’t study too much per day! Quality is better than quantity. If you are not in the mood to work, do some exercise and it will get your endorphins going. 5. Studying pathology, make sure you continually refer to histology or pathology pictures and practice describing what you see. Descriptive pathology is important to know as a vet! Mind-map all the diseases and how they link in terms of clinical symptoms or gross/histological characteristics. This will organize all these diseases better and make sense of it. 6. Eat well! Make sure you have your fruit and vegetables and instead of snacking on ‘junk’ food, replace that with fruit, nuts, dry fruit or cereal bars! 7. The brain is most productive in the morning, so get a head start and wake up bright and early and start studying and then relax in the evenings, satisfied you have worked enough. 8. The more productive work you do in term, the less pressure it is during examination period. Practice how to write good quality essays or answer questions under a time limit, using past papers or use the learning objectives from your lectures. On the exam day, don’t revise, and believe in yourself that you know this!
Don’t Memorize, think smart!
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Top Tips: 1.
Group Learning! Spend an hour a week with your friends and go over difficult subjects you learnt that week. 2. Continually develop your practical skills and practice in the Vet School in your clinical teaching facilities, clinics or talk about the procedures with your friends.
3.
Keep on top of work. Share how you and others study, so you can get some handy tips from them.
4.
If you’re losing the motivation, then sit back and think why am I here and why do I want to be a vet and what type of vet do I want to be or what life do I aspire to have? You will have this if you work hard for it.
5.
Eat healthy, exercise and keep active, and then your body will be stronger to cope with studying and clinical rotations.
6.
Have some fun! Maintain an even social and work life balance.
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IVSA SCoVE hope you enjoyed this short but useful leaflet on learning styles. SCoVE is here to help and support you on your veterinary educational journey. We always appreciate feedback and if you would like us to produce more leaflets on other topics then please do not hesitate to contact us via our Facebook Page! We also have the IVSA VET Education Forum group on Facebook to connect with students globally and to share and support one another on educational material. Good wishes from SCoVE Committee!