Welcome!

Welcome to the home of the Texas Learning Styles Academy, a Perkins-funded initiative for the 2007-08 academic year.

Project Background
It is important for CTE faculty to be aware of the diverse learning styles of their students. While some faculty may be familiar with learning styles in general, many are not knowledgeable about teaching strategies that can address the style-specific needs of their students. The Learning Styles Academy project provided professional development activities to address this issue.

Project Overview
Small teams of experts facilitated two-day, classroom-focused Learning Styles Academies across the state in 2008. The Academy sessions were designed to assist career and technical faculty at Texas community and technical colleges in enhancing the effectiveness of their teaching skills by applying best practices from current educational research. Topics such as learning styles, brain-based learning, multiple intelligences, accelerated learning, and/or metacognition were explored during the two-day academies.

Participating faculty were asked to identify a specific learning objective that their students struggle with on a consistent basis. During the Academy, faculty began “creative projects” to address the targeted learning objective. The project is incorporating newly acquired strategies for addressing a variety of student learning styles. Following the two-day Academy and classroom implementation of their projects, participants are encouraged to share their results in a follow-up evaluation.

The Academy materials were provided to participants in a Student Learning Styles Online Toolkit which is also availabe for other faculty to use. These materials include a reading list and other resources that address various learning styles and teaching techniques.

Academy Events
Registration for the Academies was open to both full-time and part-time career and technical (CTE) college faculty in Texas as well as academic faculty who teach core courses as part of CTE programs of study.

Workshop dates and locations included:

• April 3-4, 2008 at Amarillo College
• April 11-12, 2008 hosted by South Texas College/TSTC-Harlingen
• April 17-18 at Brookhaven College (Dallas)
• May 15-16 at Northeast Texas Community College (Event in Pittsburg, TX)
• May 29-30 at Lamar State College-Orange
• June 12-13 at Coastal Bend College
• June 19-20 at Austin Community College

To Learn More
For further details about the Learning Styles Academy project, please contact:

Vicky Andrews, Project Director
Director of Teaching and Learning Center
Del Mar College
101 Baldwin Blvd.
Corpus Christi, TX 78404
361/698-1096
vandrews@delmar.edu