Flickr and Diverse Learning Styles

Image courtesy of  Flickr (2010)

Flickr is an online program that allows you to load, download and store your photos in one place. You are able to set your security settings to permit friends to view your photos.  These photos can then be embedded into a document or blog as I have done here.  There is an endless supply of photos that other people have uploaded and saved as publicly viewable files.  These photos could be used by students in the classroom for various reasons.  As a teacher, you could possibly use Flickr to accumulate photos you would like to use to aid in visual learning, thus catering for those students who are visual learners.Students in our classes have such a broad range of learning styles that we must cater for.

As Felder and Spurlin (2004) state "Students have different strengths and preferences in the ways they take in and process information - which is to say, they have different learning styles." It is important that we accommodate all learning styles from Active to reflective learners, through the use of hands-on and group work to allow students time to reflect on what they have just completed. Sensing to Intuitive learners through connection with real world tasks as well as interpretations or theories that link with facts. Visual and verbal learners require pictures, diagrams etc with verbal explanation. Sequential and global learners need sequential steps that also help the student see connections to other topics and disciplines. We need to make sure as educators that we incorporate all of the mentioned learning styles for the benefit of every student in our classes. This all seems like a lot to take in, but I think that thorough planning will enable us cover all learning styles, not just one! And if we remember that everyone is an individual with individual needs and learning styles we will succeed! Flickr is just one way in which we can cater for these students.