VARK Learning Styles Applied to Dynamics 365 Training

VARK Learning Styles Applied to Dynamics 365 Training

There are many schools of thought when it comes to learning styles. One I have found to resonate well with adult learners and the Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform are the VARK learning styles when planning your CRM training. VARK stands for the four main learning styles: Visual, Auditory, Reading & Writing and Kinesthetic.

What is VARK and how can it apply to CRM training?

The VARK theory says that you have a primary learning style. While you may be influenced by other learning styles, there is one primary area where learning comes easier.

Understanding these four key ways adults learn can help us to plan and deliver useful, lasting CRM training to our end users.

Visual learners learn best by observing, seeing and watching. They will give you undivided attention when you’re presenting PowerPoints and live demos.
Auditory learners get a lot out of lectures, webinars and hearing.
Reading and writing learners are likely taking notes as they read this.
Kinesthetic learners (like me!) are hands-on. They’re the people who tell you that this CRM thing sounds great, but they need to get their hands on it to play around.
Are you curious which modality is your preferred learning style? Take this free VARK questionnaire to find out.

As a Dynamics 365 trainer, or as someone tasked with training your end users, your challenge is to balance the training to apply all learning styles. You will likely default to training in your most primary (and also most comfortable) learning style. Make sure to offer training across all learning styles!

Applying learning styles to CRM training

How can you use your understanding of the VARK learning styles to CRM training? Easy! Understand what sort of training approach reaches each style and pick and choose to combine into a beautiful training experience for your end users! We will look at each learning style and point out some training techniques and methods that work well for each.

First of all, let’s discuss live training. As you will notice in the chart below, live training can reach all learning styles. This is by far the most effective method of training your end users. If at all possible, provide your end users with some sort of live, in-person training. In a perfect world, everyone will receive live training, supplemented with many of the materials listed below. For some organizations, especially those with an employee base that covers a large geographic area and multiple time zones, this can be difficult. But if should be the first option if possible!

Check out the below graphic for many training tools and techniques. They are split into the VARK columns to make it simple to pick and choose those that will work best for your user base.

How to Train Your Users with VARK in Mind, by Heidi Neuhauser.
Need help?

Have questions about training? Need our help deciding what’s best for your user group? Feel free to reach out to reenhanced! Fill out our Contact Form with details about what you’re working on, or email me directly at [email protected]. Happy training!

Heidi Neuhauser
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Heidi is a Partner at Reenhanced. She is a Microsoft MVP for Business Applications and is passionate about user adoption, out-of-the-box configuration tools, Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform.
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