Sunday, April 15, 2007
Learning styles and flexible delivery
Becker, Kehoe and Tennent (2007) investigate the impact of personalised learning styles on online delivery and assessment of students in undergraduate introductory courses in the Faculty of Business and Law at CQU. Using the VARK learning preference approach they find that:
1. Learning style preferences do not appear to influence students level of preference overall for flexible delivery and assessment approaches.
2. A significant percentage of students report that they do not want all course delivery to be online.
3. Those with a preference to aural learning are less likely to desire flexible delivery methods.
4. Those with kinesthetic preference are more likely than those with read/write preference to be offered a choice of assessment.
5. There has been an overall shift to a preference for the inclusion of group assessment within courses.
The authors claim that the results of their study may be 'influenced by the significantly younger respondents and the fact that Generation Y was strongly represented in the sample' (Becker, Kehoe, & Tennant, 2007, p.117).
Becker, K., Kehoe, J., & Tennant, B. (2007). Impact of personalised learning styles on online delivery and assessment. Campus-wide information systems, 24(2), 105-119.
