Abstract:

High education teaching-learning processes must be defined according to the characteristics of the current context, in which Universities have changed study plans to adapt to the European Convergence. In 2001 the Prague Communiqué introduced the concept of lifelong learning as an essential element to achieve greater European competitiveness, to improve social cohesion, equal opportunities and better quality of life. Subsequently, the importance of lifelong learning is reinforced in the London Communiqué (2007) and in the Leuven Communiqué (2009). Today, this idea is present in the processes started in the European Higher Education Area (Canós-Darós et al., 2017).

In the learning process there is only one subject, the one who learns, who can be helped, guided or directed, although these activities cannot be considered as learning (Canós-Darós et al., 2017a). We can consider learning as the process by which a person incorporates informative content, acquires skills or practical habilities, adopts new strategies of knowledge and/or action, and appropriates habits, attitudes and values (Titone, 1981).

Among cognitive models we find Kolb's learning model through experiences, which relates learning styles with their processes. According to this author, learning is defined as the process of knowledge creation through the transformation of experience (Kolb, 1984). The model follows a process, based on Lewin's experiential cycle, in which a concrete experience or daily situation activates knowledge in such a way that the person begins to collect, store, process and analyze information (Bergsteiner et al., 2010). Then, the individual generalizes the concepts and internalizes and matures the acquired knowledge and skills. Finally, learning is contrasted to prove that it can be useful in new situations or experiences (Canós and Mauri, 2004, 2005).

Kolb defines four dominant types of learning styles based on the way information is perceived (from direct experience to abstract concepts) and it is processed (from the practical to the theoretical point of view): divergent, convergent, assimilative or analytical and accommodated. Experience shows that there is a wide variety of possibilities for learning: practice, observation of others’ behavior, teaching, and information reception, and even personal discovery (Felder and Silverman, 1988).

It is evident that the same subject can be (and is) presented differently by each lecturer. In this context we ask ourselves if there is a relationship between the ways a lecturer proposes to development a course and his or her own preferences. Some questions to reflect about are: what is learning? How do students learn? How do lecturers learn? How lecturers use methodologies to be developed during a course? Why do lecturers select some methodologies but not others? What is the relationship between the learning style of the lecturer and the used methodologies?.

The objective of this paper is to analyze if there is any relationship between the learning style of a lecturer (Beck, 2008) and the methodologies proposed in the teaching guides of the taught subjects. For this, we are going to apply a guided technique to generate ideas and to promote a discussion and show the main results.

Keywords:

Learning style, methodology, Kolb's approach.