Course Redesign for Enhanced Learning Styles

I didn’t start redesigning courses around learning styles on purpose. It started with conversations. Students would come to office hours and say things like, “I understand this when you explain it out loud, but the textbook loses me,” or “I need to see it laid out visually,” or “Once I actually do it in lab, it finally clicks.”

None of them were struggling because they weren’t trying. They were struggling because the way the material was presented didn’t always match how they processed information.

Over time, I began designing my courses more intentionally with multiple learning styles in mind, using the VARK framework as a guide rather than a rigid formula.

In science courses especially, it’s easy to rely heavily on lecture and text, which works well for some students but leaves others translating the material on their own. I realized many students weren’t missing content, they were missing access to that content in a form that made sense to them.

Instead of thinking about lessons as visual, auditory, or hands-on, I started layering approaches within the same lesson. Visual learners benefited from diagrams, models, structured slides, and spatial organization of information. Auditory learners benefited from clear verbal explanations, discussion, and repetition of key ideas. Kinesthetic learners benefited from labs, simulations, and opportunities to actively engage with the material rather than just observe it.

I didn’t ask students to label themselves as one type of learner. Each lesson simply offered multiple ways to learn, allowing students to use what worked best for them. In this way I reinforced learning by engaging with the content in more than one way.

Over time, I noticed fewer students feeling lost early in the course. Students became more confident asking questions and explaining concepts in their own words. Connections between lecture, lab, and assessment felt stronger, and students were better able to transfer knowledge from one context to another. The course didn’t become easier, but it became clearer.

Students weren’t just memorizing information, they were interacting with it. And from my own experience I can say that designing with multiple learning styles in mind doesn’t mean creating separate paths for different students. It means being intentional about how information is presented and practiced. Truly, small and thoughtful design choices can make a meaningful difference in how students engage with complex material.