I recently met Erik Christensen who teaches physics at South Florida Community College. He shared with me the following assignment that he likes to give the first day of class. He requires the students to take a quiz on learning styles. They then read about strategies to use that fit their learning style and do a paper showing that they are taking responsibility for what they can do to be successful in his class.
Here's the complete assignment:
1. Log on and complete the 44 question Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire (developed by Barbara Soloman and Richard Felder at North Carolina State University).
2. Print out your results and follow the links to interpret your results and find successful learning strategies that match your preferred learning styles.
3. Write a one-page (double spaced) summary of your results from the survey and discuss what things you can do to be more successful in this class.
4. Turn in both a printed copy of your Learning Styles Results and your one-page summary sheet.
I'm planning to use this as the first day assignment for at least one of my classes this semester.

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