Interactive · a working instrument

Learning Compass

A short learner-preference assessment for planning study and teaching moves. It returns a profile across four modes, not a label to live inside.

Assessment

Nine scenarios. Four useful signals.

Scenario 1 of 9

Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is stored or sent.

No script mode

The interactive compass needs JavaScript.

The model is still useful without the assessment. Read the four preferences, notice where you usually begin, then choose one stretch move.

Engraved allegorical Activist figure stepping into a live learning task.

The Activist

Learns by doing.

You learn by entering the work early, testing ideas, and letting experience create the questions. That gives you momentum, but your best growth comes when action is paired with deliberate review.

Engraved allegorical Reflector figure observing evidence before acting.

The Reflector

Learns by watching and reviewing.

You learn by observing carefully, comparing evidence, and giving ideas time to settle. That patience protects quality, but your best growth comes when reflection leads to a timely next move.

Engraved allegorical Theorist figure arranging concepts into a structured model.

The Theorist

Learns by understanding the model.

You learn by finding the structure beneath a task: concepts, assumptions, criteria, and evidence. That gives your work coherence, but your best growth comes when the model survives contact with practice.

Engraved allegorical Pragmatist figure turning knowledge into a practical tool.

The Pragmatist

Learns by applying it to a real task.

You learn by asking what works, what transfers, and what can be used tomorrow. That makes learning practical, but your best growth comes when useful action is anchored in the principle behind it.

Provenance

Built from learning theory, with the myth named.

This instrument adapts Honey and Mumford's four learning preferences (1986), which build from Kolb's experiential learning cycle (1984). The caution against treating styles as fixed prescriptions follows Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, and Bjork, "Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence" (2008).

Learning Compass

Nine scenarios. Four useful signals.

Use first

Watch for

Turn the profile into a move.

Built from learning theory, with the myth named.