College and My Personal Learning Styles
COLL100
American Military University
Melinda Beaumont

College and My Personal Learning Styles Who would have thought that going to an online college and having different learning styles would be difficult? Every person who wants to go to college needs to decide if they want to be in a classroom setting or complete courses online. Certain learning styles fit classroom settings better. Between my reasons for seeking a college degree, learning styles, and my agreement with those styles, I will be able to decide if online learning is best for me.
Everyone has their own reasons for going to college. I sought after getting a degree because being in the military and having one helps in so many ways. One way it helps is by giving us points towards our advancement exam. Since only a certain amount of people advance, those extra points make us more competitive than the person next to us. Another motive was to be the first in my family to graduate college. Last, but not least, was so I could better myself as an individual. Achieving a degree means that I will have attained the knowledge to be proficient in the job field I want to work in. Figuring out if I want to accomplish my degree online is going to be challenging because of my learning styles. Most people have numerous learning styles ranging from Active to Tactile. I assumed I only had one. I then discovered two Learning Style Inventory sites and learned I had several. The first site I explored was the Index of Learning Styles (Felder & Soloman, n.d.). Based off the results from the assessment, I am a combined active, sensing, and visual learner. Active learners retain information best when they can apply it or explain it to others. It is particularly hard for these learners to sit in lectures without being able to do something physical, other than taking notes (Felder & Soloman, n.d.). Sensing learners like to learn facts, are patient with details, learn better by doing hands-on, and are more practical (Felder & Soloman, n.d.). Visual learners retain best when they see information in pictures and demonstrations. The majority of college classes do not use visual aid and it makes learning, for students with the visual learning style, very challenging (Felder & Soloman, n.d.). The second site I used was Learning Style Inventory (Bixler, 2010), and according to this assessment I am a tactile learner. This learning style suggested that I write everything down and take detailed notes. All of these learning styles need some form of physical stimulation to be able to retain information. Taking courses online will be difficult for me because of my preferences for learning. After learning more about what each style meant, I completely agreed. One reason I agree with having a sensing