INVENTORY OF LEARNING PROCESSES (ILP)

The Inventory of Learning Processes (ILP) model was developed by Ronald Schmeck in 1977. From psychology, Schmeck believes cognitive and personality studies, while useful, are not definitive and that learning styles, as a construct, would be more useful.

Schmeck defined learning style as a predisposition on the part of some learners to adopt a particular learning strategy regardless of the specific demands of the learning task. Further, learning strategies are patterns of information-processing activities that the individual uses to prepare for a test of memory.

Elaborate processors do more than just remember; they classify, compare, contrast, analyze, and synthesize information.

Shallow processing is not a separate style, but it is one point on a continuum.

The ILP is a self-report instrument comprised of 62 items to assess students’ behavioral and conceptual processes. This true/false format arranged items into four scales: synthesis analysis, study methods, fact retention, and elaborate processing.

It is possible to retain facts whether one processes in depth or shallowly. We tend to retain facts when processing deeply. Memorizing is shallow retention.

This model sheds light on the authority orientation of the learner who is “eager to please.’

PARAGRAPH COMPLETION METHOD (PCM)

Paragraph Completion Method (PCM) was developed by Dr. David Hunt in 1978. To Hunt, learning styles are those educational conditions under which students are most likely to learn. There is a need for students to have structure.

Learners who have a low conceptual level are concrete, impulsive, and have poor tolerance for frustration.

They require a great deal of structure. Learners who have a mid-stage conceptual level are conforming or dependent.

They are dependent on rules and authority and are categorical thinkers. They require structure but should be given choices.

Learners who have a higher conceptual level are referred to as independent and are described as inquiring, self-assertive, and questioning. They require less structure, and need more choices.
Hunt promotes both teaching to student strengths and students changing their styles. For the lower cognitive level students, begin with high structure and gradually decrease the amount to encourage
self-initiative.

Paragraph Completion Method consists of six lead sentences, which the learner is directed to complete and write about. The specific response is important in terms of the complexity of the response, not the opinion stated.

LEARNING STYLE INVENTORY (LSI)

Developed by Dr. David Kolb in 1976, the core of the model is a simple description of the learning cycle of how adult experience is translated into concepts, which in turn are used as guides in the choices of new experiences.

The experiential learning model has a four stage cycle:

1. Immediate concrete experience is the basis for observation and reflection.
2. Those observations are assimilated into theory from which new implications for action can be deduced.
3. Those implications serve as guides in acting to create new experiences.
4. The cycle evolves.

To be effective, the learner requires abilities that are opposite: concrete experiences versus abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation versus reflective observation.

The LSI is a 9-item assessment with 4 sub-items to be rank ordered by adults. It is designed for and applied to adult organizational systems and management training.

Four dominant types of learning styles have emerged most frequently:

1. Converger - abstract conceptualization and active experimentation
Strength: practical application of ideas
2. Diverger - opposite of Converger
Strength: concrete experience and reflective observation - imaginative ability
3. Assimilator - abstract conceptualization
and reflective observation
Strength: ability to create theoretical models
4. Accommodator - concrete experience and active experimentation Strength: actually doing things, carrying out plans and experiments, involving themselves in new experiences

GREGORC STYLE DELINEATOR (GSD)

Gregorc assesses style with the Gregorc Style Delineator, a self-report inventory based on the rank ordering of four words in each of the ten sets.

This consists of distinctive, observable behaviors that provide clues to the functioning of individual minds and how they relate to the world.

Individuals learn in combinations of dualities; specifically perception and ordering. Abstract, concrete, random, and sequential proclivities have been found by Gregorc to combine into several styles.

There are four distinct learning patterns in the model.

While everyone exhibits all four to some degree, most exhibit one or two.

1. Concrete Sequential- acquire knowledge through direct hands-on experience; appreciate
order and direct step-by-step instruction
2. Concrete Random - best characterized
by experimental attitudes and behaviors using the trial and error approach; tendency to make intuitive leaps
3. Abstract Seauential- have excellent decoding abilities with written, verbal, and image symbols and sequential manner; will learn better from authorities
than through active experimentation
4. Abstract Random - distinguished by their attention to human behavior and their capacity to interpret vibrations; prefer to receive information in an unstructured manner and, therefore, prefer discussions and activities that involve multi-sensory experiences.

4 MAT SYSTEM

Developed by Bernice McCarthy in 1976, the model assumes that all people sense and feel, observe and think, and experiment and act. All learners move continually between abstract conceptualization
and concrete experience while learning. The model features sequencing patterns and four learning-style clusters.

1. Innovatives are curious, aware, and perceptive.
2. Analytics are critical, fact seeking, and philosophizing.
3. Common-sense people are hands-on, practical, and oriented toward the present.
4. Dynamics are risk taking, adaptive, inventive, and enthusiastic.

McCarthy developed an overlay of hemisphericity, identifying the left-brain function as being associated with verbal, field-independent activity and the right-brain function as being responsible for visual/spatial, field dependentactivity.

McCarthy proposes a spiral process of learning:

• Learner enters into the spiral through a right-brain structured activity designed for motivational arousal. This is the sensing-feeling activity for the innovative learners.
• The next component is dissection of the activity in great detail, providing the investigative, intellectual exercises that appeal to analytic learners.
• Once the concept has been formulated, learners practice working with the concept; the left-brain goal is to achieve mastery of the concept. This relates to common sense hands-on practice and personalization.
• Finally, the learner is asked to make right-brain choices of alternatives and apply as many as possible to real-world situations. This relates to the dynamic learner, the action-oriented doer who thrives on implementing programs.

All four styles are presented with accompanying left-right hemispheric activities in every lesson.