Material Detail

August 2016, The link has been corrected.

This site is not intended to provide research and testing on learning styles. Originally constructed as a Reusable Learning Object, it is rather an animation of the characteristics of left brain and right brain learning traits adapted from the work of Malcolm Knowles in his book, "The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species (1990, p 243-248)." It also includes sites of learning style inventories for self reflection. Some of these secondary links may change over time and we will make an effort to keep up with those changes in a timely manner. Click on the ? button in the upper right hand corner to get the directions on the most effective use of the tool.
The site has been used initially as part of a leadership development course to assess how leaders learn and to help leaders determine how their subordinates learn. With the concept of "inside out leadership" I believe that leaders (no matter what age or position) have to be able to assess their own learning style. Subsequently knowing how others learn (and this may be different from how leaders learn) will affect how a leader gives direction, makes assignments, delegates work, etc.

This RLO has been used in both an on-line graduate leadership development course and an on-ground freshmen orientation course but can be widely adopted for use in other areas such as study skills, psychology, management, and education. The learning goals/objectives, a sample learning
assignment and the ways I have used the brain dominance material are located at http://www.towson.edu/~mcmahon/lead/moduletheory.html .
There is a security system in place for the module (but not the RLO) because of tuition collected in an online course. It changes every semester but is available to those requesting it by contacting the author. The brain dominance RLO is only one part of the collective information required in the Personal Profile proof of learning for this content module on Leadership Theory (see right column of the module). The proofs of learning are considered homework and are collected online and recorded.

Students who have viewed this RLO find it helpful in examining how they think. They can then compare their style to how others think and learn. It adds an interesting visualization to the popular "left-brain, right brain" literature.

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