Assessing learning styles of adults with intellectual difficulties

The development of an electronic inventory to assess learning styles of adults with intellectual difficulties was seen as an inclusion strategy to aid learning and achievement. Some argue for the 'centrality of e-learning to educational diversity', for example. The use of VAK inventories (whether electronic or paper based), however, has been derogated as leading to theory-practice pedagogy that is misinterpreted and ill-informed. The focus here is dual in that the vigour and 'user friendliness' of the tool developed is analysed in the midst of a critical appraisal of its use. Assessments conducted using the inventory developed showed 34 percent of the participants have visual preferences, 34 percent have auditory, 23 percent have kinaesthetic, and 9 percent have multimodal learning preferences. Thus, this participant group requires a varied and diverse learning programme. The inventory was found to be user friendly but in need of further development, and would best be used as part of a self-reflective learning package.