Training and Learning Styles—Training Basics

Testing

In its broader definitions, learning style encompasses many aspects of the human body, mind, and spirit. Alexander Pope's poetic assertion that “a little learning is a dangerous thing” surely applies to a trainer's involvement in testing to discover the psychological components of learners' styles. There are numerous psychological tests and instruments designed to disclose the following information about learners:

• acculturation

• anxieties

• aptitudes

• interests, particularly vocational interests

• personality/temperament type

• reading ability or style

• self-esteem

• self-efficacy (expectations of success)