When it comes to studying at university, knowing what style of learner you are can be a massive help as you can adapt your methods to your advantage. Today I am going to be looking at what it means to be an Auditory Learner and examine the tools available to achieve the best results in your degree!
What is an Auditory Learner?
An auditory learner is educated through hearing and listening to content, so study methods which best suit them include listening to recordings of notes and lectures and reading aloud. You will know you are an auditory learner if you find you absorb and remember information and content through listening, as opposed to visuals.
Tools which Auditory Learners can use at university for revision:
Voice Recording
One way in which an auditory learner can study is through using a voice recorder such as the one available on a smartphone or tablet. The student can record themselves as they read their notes aloud, organising them into individual clips or one big file, and then listen back to themselves talking to learn the relevant content. This can be more helpful to focus on the infor,mation than staring at a bunch of words on a page that just aren’t going in.
Utilise the Lecture Recordings
If your university records your lectures and uploads them to your student platform such as Canvas, then this is a tool which all auditory learners should be availing of! Take this content and listen back to the important parts of the lecture, so that you dont have to sit and write out what has been said during class. You know you have the recording, so you can be more present in the moment and clearly focus on what is being said without worrying about missing any notes.
Use the Jamworks App
Whether you use the app on smartphone or desktop, Jamworks is an essenmtial tool for all auditory learners to have at university. Being able to create clips and highlight the important content being said in the lecture helps to drown out all the unimportant information and waffle that isnt needed to be listened back to. These audio clips can be renamed so that you can see your notes layed out in a simple format, with the ability to listen to them in any order. Jamworks saves the time of having to write out notes by hand, as the transcript does the work for you.
Invest in Decent Headphones
If you’re choosing to listen to your notes and study content, I recommend investing in a decent pair of headphones/earbuds. Your hearing is a valuable tool for you in developing further in your education, so you need to make sure you are wearing a comfortable pair of headphones that provide comfortable access to learning.
Auditory Learner-friendly Playlist
Some audtitory learners benefit from listening to music while they study. If this is the case for you then I recommend making a seperate playlist that is your go-to for getting in the study zone. You want to be able to seperate your “relaxed and chilled” time from your “in the zone” time, and so using different playlists will help to assert that shift in your brain.
Listen to Podcasts on relevant topics
If you are carrying out research for a dissertation, project or just to expand your knowledge, why not try listening to some podcasts which discuss relevant topics and content to what you are trying to learn? This can be a great and if not more beneficial alternative to going to the library and reading/skimming through tons of books. Podcasts offer opinions and discussions on topics in a more up-to-date mindset than books that may have been published decades ago. You can also use Jamworks to make clips of the important notes you find in a podcast to listen back to later on or include in your assignment.
Try out Audio Books on Audible
Similarly to podcasts, audio books are an essential tool for auditory learners when carrying out research or delving into essential reading lists etc. Nowadays there are audio editions of most books via sites such as Audible which offer a free trial, so you can try it out and see if this is a tool for you.
Rhythms and Repetition
A classic tool which helps many auditory learners to comsume content is to use rhythms and repetition in their learning. If you’re tyring to remember a sentence or phrase, try and associate it with a tune or rhythm and repeat it consistently in the same way so that you are listening to it and eventually absorbing the information that way. You can also create clips by recording yourself using the Jamworks app to listen back to yourself using the rhythm.
