Category Archives: MBTI – Learning Styles

Aug 27

Learning Styles and Training?

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Don Clark wrote the following as part of a discussion about learning styles and training, and makes an excellent point about the many learning styles one could look at. My reply follows:

> That’s the whole point, the research does not support the VAK
> learning styles, or the other styles for that matter — it points the
> opposite way — towards content and context having their own delivery
> styles. So why would you recognize something that is not there? And if you
> do believe in all the various styles, how do you support 192 different
> styles in the classroom? If you coached one-on-one, then it would be
> possible, however, I do not think there are many of us that have that
> luxury.

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Aug 25

Training, Trainers and Copyright

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Periodically there have been conversations about the copyright of training and coaching materials. Occasionally the conversations have gotten heated, particularly when someone professes an extreme view of the value of copyrights in principle. Here’s a post where I respond to a particular person (who seems to have failed badly in training and business).

Except for the fact that this seems also factually incorrect, there’s
some good stuff here.

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Jul 23

Teaching Style vs. Learning Style Myths and Realities 26 Research #astd #trdev

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Teaching Style vs. Learning Style Myths and Realities 26, by Bettina Lankard Brown, 2003 PDF Available

This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education under Contract No. ED-99-CO-0013. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. ERIC/ACVE publications may be freely reproduced.

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Jul 20

A Well Deserved Poke At Adult Learning Principles and Styles

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It is no secret that I believe adult learning principles and styles are essentially vague and useless in terms of instructing “adults” versus “non-adults” and that the work of many popular adult learning “experts” is terrible, and that includes Knowles. I’m not alone in that respect.

So I was browsing around and came across a well written article entitled How to Use Adult Learning Principles and Styles in Your Next Course, which I believe is typical of the thinking in that field. Despite the fact that it is well written, and clear, it’s nonsense, and it doesn’t even take much thought to realize it IS nonsense. Why many people can’t see the lack of clothing on this particular emperor is beyond me.

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Jun 14

Problems with test administration training (DISC, MBTI)

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The recent exchange with Gary Lear about reliability and validity really highlights one of the major problems with these instruments and their usage. THIS IS IN NO WAY MEANT TO COMMENT ON GARY, BUT ON THE GENERAL SITUATION.

Even the companies that train and certify people to administer these tests are turning out people with a very poor grasp or understanding of the research, the theories IN CONTEXT, or the statistical aspects of the tests. This may not be an issue for some.

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Jun 13

What Happens When the Ox You Gore Is the MBTI?

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Ok, I guess it’s time to really wrap this up, this MBTI question. I realize that there are those that believe and those that don’t. I have to offer the observation that this is like discussing religion or politics. No amount of facts, research is going to change the minds of those that hold the particular belief. That’s not much of a problemfor religion and politics, but the justification of the use of scientific or purported scientific instruments lies with the facts and the data. If people don’t understand the data, they don’t understand the
instrument.

What is interesting is not that people differ in opinion but the actual reactions when people are faced with facts or information that could cause them to rethink their positions. With the topic of MBTI, it gets real interesting, because for those that believe strongly, the response is to deny the facts, ignore them, pretend they aren’t there, and respond (if at all) with personal attacks, or strange messages.

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May 28

MBTI Certification Flaws

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The standards set for MBTI certification are set by the vending company, in EXACTLY the same way that the standards might be set by Langevin — they get to choose.

The requirements to administer the MBTI are not nearly high enough to qualify anyone to use a psychometric test of any kind, even the MBTI, because they simply don’t require enough psychometric knowledge in general to allow the proper use of the MBTI (sorry, I know this will offend some, but if you are qualified in psychmetrics as a field, you’ll understand). Hence there are a lot of MBTI certified people who shouldn’t be a allowed near ANY psychometric instrument, including the MBTI. MOST (and I stand on this statement)  certified MBTI folks simply lack the broad knowledge and depth of knowledge to administer and interpret the results properly.

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May 20

MBTI and Self-Validation and Demand Characteristics

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Harrison Snow wrote:

> Hey Guys,
> Just a reminder that we are talking about an
> “indicator” around “preferences”…..
> MBTI is not the voice of Destiny and the mother-
> daughter team Myers and Briggs along with Carl Jung
> never claimed that it should be used with that kind of authority. It
> is always up to the individual to validate his or her own preferences
> keeping in mind this is not about strengths or skills or abilities but
> only about how a person prefers to do things.

That’s the theory…the stock line if you will. The question that might be of interest is whether it’s actually true in how people really give, take, and interpret the results.

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May 12

Generational Differences? Real or same old same old

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Trainers, and others often speak of there being significant generational differences that affect how people learn and interact. That’s the pop psych view but it may not be true at all.

Just for thought provocation, there are actually two different “schools” regarding generational differences. The most common one (e.g. popular one) is that different generations are indeed different and so are labelled — boomer, generation-x, etc.

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