Training that Sticks: Using the VARK Model to Optimize Employee Learning
You invest significant time and resources into onboarding new hires, upskilling current staff, and ensuring your team is up-to-speed on the latest technology and workflows. Ensuring they have the knowledge needed to be efficient and effective isn’t just a goal; it’s a necessity.
But how much of that training actually sticks?
As we progress through K-12, higher education, and into adulthood, our brains continue to learn, and with that, the way we learn develops and grows, too.
Adult learners are self-directed and bring their lifetime of experience to the table. They don’t learn like K-12 students, where the focus is on cognitive, social, and emotional development. Instead, they need training that respects their time, leverages their existing knowledge, and caters to their individual learning style.
By understanding and addressing the four core ways people process information, you move beyond “one-size-fits-all” training that often falls flat. This blog will break down the VARK learning styles and show you how the Global eTraining platform is engineered to ensure every learner succeeds.
Types of Learning Styles
VARK, an acronym developed by educator Neil Fleming, stands for Visual, Auditory (Aural), Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic. It describes the four fundamental preferences for how individuals take in and retain information.
Simply put, these learning styles refer to the individual’s preference for how they process and retain information:
- Visual: Learns best through visual cues such as pictures, diagrams, flowcharts, and videos.
- Auditory/Aural: Learns best through listening in the form of lectures, audio, music, and discussion.
- Reading/Writing: Learns best through reading, making lists, taking notes, and writing summaries.
- Kinesthetic: Learns best through hands-on activities, exercises, simulations, and movement.
It’s also important to note that most adults have both a primary and secondary learning style. For example, I am a strong Reading/Writing learner, but I supplement and retain my knowledge with kinesthetic methods like visual diagrams and images.
Now that you know about the four main learning styles, how do you apply them to how you train your team? Luckily, with Global eTraining’s LMS platform, catering to specific learning styles is easy, user-friendly, and customizable.
How Global eTraining Caters to VARK
Generic, text-heavy training materials do not cater to multiple learning styles. Within a Global eTraining course, students are exposed to a variety of materials that simultaneously support all VARK learning styles.
- Visual and Reading/Writing: Clear on-screen text, images, and diagrams.
- Auditory: The speaker icon provides the option for narrated text.
- Kinesthetic: Interactive tiles, simulations, and hands-on exercises are embedded directly in the course.
Training Your Way
In addition to the standardized courses available within the Global eTraining Get Everything platform, you can create and host your own custom training content through The Generator, a course content creation/authoring tool used to build custom training content for your company.
Within the Generator, custom outlines and written material can be tailored to various learning styles. You have complete control over the training you provide to your team with ability to create text, automatically generate audio, and incorporate images, which can then be supplemented with interactive tiles containing images, video, audio, and exercises to support all types of learning.
The Generator course builder
Published custom course
Conclusion
Adult education is important to understand, especially when building, growing, and maintaining a successful business. By implementing a successful training experience, employees are more productive, experience higher job satisfaction, and are happier when they can seamlessly apply new knowledge to everyday workflows. Investing in their education and creating interactive learning content that utilizes the VARK system will create a strong foundation for future success.
