There has been a good deal of research done on this subject but for the purposes of this post I would like to boil this all down to what are considered the three primary or main styles of learning. Types of learning play an important role because they work hand in hand with explicit and tacit knowledge. Each one of these different styles represents a different sort of idiom to the learning experience. So here they are:
- Visual
- Auditory
- Kinesthetic
It can be argued that employing a good variety of learning and study methods would be the most appropriate way to develop your skills as a sysadmin or any other career related in the operations field. Instead of saying that one is better than another, one should employ all of these types learning in their own life. Take a look at yourself and figure out how you learn best and then decide which method(s) are the most and least helpful and then decide how to make these styles work to your advantage.
For example, having a piece of reading material as a reference or as an introduction is great. If the subject material is difficult and isn’t easily understood, a good next step to take is internalizing things by listening to or watching others. Finally, with a good enough understanding about a topic, quickly put things into your own experiences. It is much more easy to remember things when you are able to experience them yourself.