rn through what they see, auditory learners from what they hear, and kinaesthetic learners from movement and touching.

Although each of us learns in all three of these ways to some degree, most people prefer one over the other two. Do you ever catch yourself saying things like "That looks right to me," or "I get the picture"? Or are you more lik

We all have preferences for how we learn best. Are you visual, auditory or kinaesthetic? Put another way, do you like to see what I mean, or prefer to hear my idea or are you someone who likes to experience or feel what is being talked about.

A person's learning style is a combination of how they perceive, then organise and finally process information. Once you're familiar with your learning style, you can take action to help yourself learn faster and more easily.

Plus, learning how to decipher the learning styles of others, like your boss, colleagues, teacher and family can help you strengthen your rapport and influence with them. Determining your own personal learning style is a key to improved performance at work, in training and study, and in social situations. Trainers, teachers and educators are (very slowly) realising that everyone has an optimal way of taking in new information and that some students need to be taught in ways that vary from standard teaching methods. Traditional teaching and assessment has always been aimed at visual learners.

Just as some people have a preference for being right or left-handed, we appear to have a preference for the way we sense the world. To decipher your predominant learning style, the first step is to identify your preferred sense - whether you prefer visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic. As these terms suggest, visual people learn through what they see, auditory learners from what they hear, and kinaesthetic learners from movement and touching.

Although each of us learns in all three of these ways to some degree, most people prefer one over the other two. Do you ever catch yourself saying things like "That looks right to me," or "I get the picture"? Or are you more lik

mation. Once you're familiar with your learning style, you can take action to help yourself learn faster and more easily.

Plus, learning how to decipher the learning styles of others, like your boss, colleagues, teacher and family can help you strengthen your rapport and influence with them. Determining your own personal learning style is a key to improved performance at work, in training and study, and in social situations. Trainers, teachers and educators are (very slowly) realising that everyone has an optimal way of taking in new information and that some students need to be taught in ways that vary from standard teaching methods. Traditional teaching and assessment has always been aimed at visual learners.

Just as some people have a preference for being right or left-handed, we appear to have a preference for the way we sense the world. To decipher your predominant learning style, the first step is to identify your preferred sense - whether you prefer visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic. As these terms suggest, visual people learn through what they see, auditory learners from what they hear, and kinaesthetic learners from movement and touching.

Although each of us learns in all three of these ways to some degree, most people prefer one over the other two. Do you ever catch yourself saying things like "That looks right to me," or "I get the picture"? Or are you more lik

to improved performance at work, in training and study, and in social situations. Trainers, teachers and educators are (very slowly) realising that everyone has an optimal way of taking in new information and that some students need to be taught in ways that vary from standard teaching methods. Traditional teaching and assessment has always been aimed at visual learners.

Just as some people have a preference for being right or left-handed, we appear to have a preference for the way we sense the world. To decipher your predominant learning style, the first step is to identify your preferred sense - whether you prefer visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic. As these terms suggest, visual people learn through what they see, auditory learners from what they hear, and kinaesthetic learners from movement and touching.

Although each of us learns in all three of these ways to some degree, most people prefer one over the other two. Do you ever catch yourself saying things like "That looks right to me," or "I get the picture"? Or are you more lik

at visual learners.

Just as some people have a preference for being right or left-handed, we appear to have a preference for the way we sense the world. To decipher your predominant learning style, the first step is to identify your preferred sense - whether you prefer visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic. As these terms suggest, visual people learn through what they see, auditory learners from what they hear, and kinaesthetic learners from movement and touching.

Although each of us learns in all three of these ways to some degree, most people prefer one over the other two. Do you ever catch yourself saying things like "That looks right to me," or "I get the picture"? Or are you more lik

rn through what they see, auditory learners from what they hear, and kinaesthetic learners from movement and touching.

Although each of us learns in all three of these ways to some degree, most people prefer one over the other two. Do you ever catch yourself saying things like "That looks right to me," or "I get the picture"? Or are you more likely to say, "That sounds right to me," or "That rings a bell"? Or "I like the feel of that," or "I grasp it now"? Expressions like these may be clues to your preferred modality.

If you couldn't see or hear, or if you couldn't feel texture, shape, temperature, weight, or resistance in your environment, you would literally have no way of learning. Most of us learn in many ways, yet we usually favour one modality over the others. Many people don't realise they are favouring one way, because nothing external tells them they are any different from anyone else. Knowing that there are differences goes a long way towards explaining why we have problems understanding and communicating with some people and not with others, and why we handle some situations more easily than others.

So how do you discover your own preferred modality? One simple way is to listen for clues in your speech, as in the expressions above. Another way is to notice your behaviour when you attend a seminar or workshop. Do you seem to get more from reading the handout or from listening to the presenter? Auditory people prefer listening to the material and sometimes get lost if they try to take notes on the subject during the presentation. Visual people prefer to read the handouts and look at the slides the presenter shows. Visual people also take excellent notes. Kinaesthetic learners do best with "hands on" activiti