Despite the extensive literature on learning styles, questions remain regarding the degree to which such styles can be matched to teaching methods with any benefits for learning.
                                 MRK, p. 59

Learner styles is our third area of interest when considering learner characteristics. As you may gather from the reading in MRK, learning styles are described in a variety of ways and a number of different approaches to the problem have been used. The ones which are most commonly undertaken are those which use preferences for different ways of perceiving and receiving information, and those like the Myers-Briggs which extend into personality variables. The Swanson reading provides an overview of most of these and points out early in the article that there are an "array of definitions for the term 'learning style' ".

Of particular interest in the Swanson article is Curry's metaphor for representing aspects of learning style. In that metaphor the layers of an onion stand for the different levels of a person's characteristics, with those at the centre presumably being much more set and difficult to change than those in the outer rings. On the outer edge of the onion is the students' preference for a learning environment, their preferred instructional style. Below that is the preference for social interaction (or lack of it) in learning. On the next layer in is the individual's approach to assimilating information, which is referred to as information processing. Finally, at the core is the influence of basic personality on the individual's preferred approach to perception, or as Swanson puts it, "acquiring and integrating information." Swanson insightfully uses this model as a frame for discussing the various approaches to learning styles.

"Organizing our thinking about learning styles. Curry's (1983) Onion Metaphor"

Also of interest in the Swanson article is the section on the differences that ethnicity and culture may have on learning style. While this is a relatively unexplored area, Swanson undertakes a useful review of the work of Griggs and Dunn and others in this area.

Finally, while neither MRK nor Swanson mention it, Howard Gardner's work on multiple intelligences must be briefly noted. Gardner (1983) asserts that human beings have at least seven dimensions to their intelligence. Those seven aspects are: visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, and logical-mathematical. Increasingly, we are seeing Gardner's theories worked into aspects of instructional design and we can expect to see more of it in the future. Gardner himself has written on aspects of multimedia.  An article on the subject which he has co-written with Shirley Veenema may be found at http://www.prospect.org/print/V7/29/veenema-s.html.