scholarly journals OPTIMISATION OF SELECTION OF ELECTRONIC LEARNING RESOURCES ACCORDING TO STUDENT GROUP COMPOSITION

2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 134
Author(s):  
Tetiana M. Derkach

The technology of integration of learning methods, forms and means of information and communication technologies is described with due regards for psychological and pedagogical characteristics of student groups. The results of theoretical and experimental research conducted on the basis of two Ukrainian universities with the participation of 341 students in the "Chemistry" training area and 18 lecturers of basic chemical disciplines are highlighted. Both students and lecturers were polled in a specially designed questionnaire to show their attitude to the use of various electronic learning resources in learning and teaching basic chemical disciplines. Students’ preferences in learning styles were estimated on the basis of a self-scoring questionnaire for assessing preferences on four complementary dimensions, such as perception (sensitive or intuitive), input (visual or verbal), processing (active or reflective) and understanding (sequential or global) of chemical information. Such an approach is known as the method of Felder-Soloman, and it allows one to calculate Indices of Learning Style which assess qualitatively available preferences of all respondents in each of the four available directions. The developed technology allows lecturers to qualify an optimal set of electronic learning resources for the teaching of individual sections of chemistry, taking into account preferences in their use of students with different learning styles. The technology under development is based on the calculation of average resource scores as assessed by all students in the group, as well as on the expert evaluation of the feasibility of their application in the teaching of basic chemical disciplines. The taxonomy of the optimal selection of electronic learning resources and teaching methods is developed for each type of students’ learning preferences. Advantages and disadvantages of all available variants of the application of the developed technology are discussed for student groups of different compositions. An example of the application is given for studying the discipline "Inorganic Chemistry".

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Breckler ◽  
David Joun ◽  
Huy Ngo

Student learning may be classified according to the sensory modalities by which one prefers to take in information. One such classification scheme uses the VARK instrument, which categorizes learning preferences as visual (V), auditory (A), reading-writing (R), or kinesthetic (K). Many students have a single, strong preferences (“unimodal”), whereas others have multiple (“multimodal”) learning preferences. Although limited in scope and reliability, knowledge of student learning preferences is important for reasons of pedagogy. Teaching and student learning styles may also affect student academic success in science coursework and fulfillment of student career goals. In our study, we determined the learning preferences of upper-division students in a human physiology course during a 2-yr period at a public undergraduate institution in California. We also sought to determine the association between individual learning styles and stated career intentions. We found that the majority of students interested in the health professions have multimodal learning preferences. Furthermore, a greater percentage of premedical students had multimodal preferences compared with predental and prescientist students. When data were compared by gender, we found that more female than male students had multimodal learning preferences. We also observed some gender differences when separating student groups by career choice. For example, more premedical men had multimodal preferences compared with nonpremedical men. In contrast to men, women showed little differences in their learning style profiles whether premedical or not and also self-predicted their learning preferences more accurately. Thus, career choice may be an important consideration in determining whether or not there are gender differences among students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-63
Author(s):  
Hadis Sourinejad ◽  
◽  
Fariba Haghani ◽  
Marjan Beigi ◽  
Elham Adibmoghaddam ◽  
...  

Background: Identifying the factors that contribute to learning is one of the most important research goals. Learning style is one of these important and effective factors. The predominant learning styles of students in different universities of Iran are different. Objective: This study aimed to review the learning styles of midwifery students in Iran based on Kolb’s learning theory. Materials and Methods: In this review study, a search was conducted in Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, SID, and MagIran databases on articles published during 2000-2020 by using the keywords: Learning styles, midwifery students, and Kolb’s theory in Persian and English. Out of 28 eligible articles, 9 articles were finally reviewed. Results: Learning in midwifery students is usually done by using different styles, the most common of which was convergent style followed by assimilative style. Conclusion: The predominant learning styles of midwifery students in Iran are convergent and assimilative styles. While considering individual differences, educational planning and selection of teaching method should be done in a way that is appropriate for different learning styles of midwifery students and a variety of new and innovative teaching methods should be used.


2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-354
Author(s):  
Guilherme Luz Tortorella ◽  
Rogério Miorando ◽  
Diego Fettermann ◽  
Diego Tlapa Mendoza

PurposeThis article identifies the association between two methods for teaching lean manufacturing (LM): problem-based learning (PBL) and classroom lectures, and students' learning styles of a postgraduate course.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from graduate students LM courses that present different teaching approaches. Thus, students' learning preferences were gathered through the application of the Index of Learning Style questionnaire, and their performance assessed after each course.FindingsResults indicate that learning styles are indeed associated with LM teaching approaches, and comprehending interaction effects between learning style dimensions is essential for properly adapting the teaching method. However, these interactions have different extensions.Originality/valueAlthough teaching LM has significantly evolved over the past decades, the single application of traditional teaching methods jeopardizes learning effectiveness of graduate students because of the practical nature of LM. This study provides evidence to better understand the effect of complementary teaching methods and their relationship with students' preferences, empirically examining that there is not one best approach for understanding LM.


Author(s):  
BAHTA WARA ◽  
JAN DALY ◽  
HANA MORRISSEY ◽  
PATRICK BALL

Objective: Pharmaceutical calculations are an essential aspect of learning for pharmacy students in order to avoid drug dose errors and maintain patient safety in future practice. Learning styles influence how lecturers approach the teaching-learning process. So far no specific learning preference is believed to be most appropriate for the pharmacy curricular; however certain learning styles are favoured by students as they improve their understanding of course material, knowledge and performance. Methods: 148Master of pharmacy participants from the second and third year were given a questionnaire to complete during a compulsory Individual Readiness Assurance Test session. Participants were restricted to just one option. Results: Workshops with a tutor was the most selected (36%) followed by 25% of participants favouring formative assessments, 28% selected workbooks alone, 37% for whole-class lecturers and videos option was the least selected. Reasons for the most and least preferred learning styles were highlighted and separated into advantages and disadvantages using themes. In the knowledge test; 92% of participants selected “unsure” or “didn’t know” the answer, 29% had a partially correct answer and 19% selected incorrect answers. The overall order of ranking arose in regards to the most beneficial learning style which enhances performance. The responses revealed a variety of advantages and disadvantages which were reflected between year groups and similar to views obtained from recent literature. Students reflected a lack of understanding on extemporaneous preparation (EPs) terms used in pharmaceutical compounding practices, thus the university should consider addressing the lack of awareness and consider the best teaching-learning style in doing so. Conclusion: Overall the findings suggested that the sample students have similar views on the learning styles used to deliver pharmaceutical calculations on their academic performance to that expressed by the authors from recent published literature.


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roopa B. Ankad ◽  
Shashikala GV ◽  
Anita Herur ◽  
Manjula R ◽  
Surekharani Chinagudi ◽  
...  

PowerPoint presentations (PPTs) have become routine in medical colleges because of their flexible and varied presentation capabilities. Research indicates that students prefer PPTs over the chalk-and-talk method, and there is a lot of debate over advantages and disadvantages of PPTs. However, there is no clear evidence that PPTs improve student learning/performance. Furthermore, there are a variety of learning styles with sex differences in classrooms. It is the responsibility of teacher/facilitator and student to be aware of learning style preferences to improve learning. The present study asked the following research question: do PPTs equally affect the learning of students with different learning styles in a mixed sex classroom? After we assessed students' predominant learning style according to the sensory modality that one most prefers to use when learning, a test was conducted before and after a PPT to assess student performance. The results were analyzed using Student's t-test and ANOVA with a Bonferroni post hoc test. A z-test showed no sex differences in preferred learning styles. There was significant increase in posttest performance compared with that of the pretest in all types of learners of both sexes. There was also a nonsignificant relationship among sex, learning style, and performance after the PPT. A PPT is equally effective for students with different learning style preferences and supports mixed sex classrooms.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-131
Author(s):  
Juan Camilo González Vargas ◽  
Angela Carrillo-Ramos ◽  
Ramon Fabregat ◽  
Lizzeth Camargo ◽  
Maria Caridad García Cepero ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe a support system to the selection of enrichment activities in educational environment called RunayaySoft, where Runayay comes from the word Quechua that means develop and Soft as it is an informatics tool that supports the educational institutions and their students, in the selection of activities that allow foster some of their skills based on their interests, learning styles, aptitudes, multiple intelligences, preferences and so on. Moreover, it suggests institutions about the activities that they should make in their building considering student´s characteristics and the agreements that they have. Design/methodology/approach It does a diagnostic for identifying which characteristics are going to be considered to students and institutions. Then, it generates adaptive profiles with the aim of generating suggestions of enrichment activities that allow to boost some of their skills. For the students were considered their preferences, learning style, aptitude, multiple intelligences and interests. In the case of institutions were the agreements, resources and activities that they develop. Based on this information, it defines the relations for the generation of suggestions of activities toward students, where it does the prioritization of which activities should be considered. Findings For validating the system, it was done as a functional prototype that generates suggestions to students, as well as educative institutions, through a satisfaction test student assess if they agree or disagree with the suggestions given. With that assessment, it is validated the relationship between student’s characteristics, activity and institution are related for generating activities suggestions. Research limitations/implications RunayaySoft generates adaptive profiles for the students, activity and institution. Each profile has information that allows adapt an advice toward students and institutions. Social implications RunayaySoft considers student’s characteristics, activities and educational institutions for generating suggestions for enrichment activities that allow to boost some of their skills. Many times, when activities are generated in educative institutions, they are not considered a learner’s needs and characteristics. For that reason, the system helps institutions to identify activities that should be done in their facilities or with those institutions which they have agreements when the institutions that students come from do not have the required resources. Originality/value RunayaySoft suggests enrichment activities to students as well as educative institutions. For students, it suggests disciplinary areas where they can boost their skills; for each disciplinary area are recommended activities based on their preferences. Once students select the disciplinary area and activities, the system suggests educative institutions activities that they can do. If the institutions do not have the necessary facilities, the system shows with which other institutions they can set agreements. Moreover, it supports educative institutions to identify enrichment clusters, where it clusters students based on similar interest, allowing institutions to identify the activities that they should focus on.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 26-30
Author(s):  
Md Rezaul Karim ◽  
AKM Asaduzzaman ◽  
Md Humayun Kabir Talukder ◽  
Kazi Khairul Alam ◽  
Farhana Haque ◽  
...  

This descriptive type of cross sectional study was conducted to determine the learning styles of undergraduate medical students. The study period was from July 2017 to June 2018. The study was carried out among the students of 2nd, 3rd and 4th phases of MBBS course of 3 government and 4 non-government medical colleges of Bangladesh. Out of 7 medical colleges, 4 were within Dhaka and 3 were from outside Dhaka. The sample size was 1004 students. Medical colleges were selected purposively and convenience sampling technique was adopted for data collection. Bangla translated version Fleming's VARK (visual, auditory, read/write and kinesthetic) questionnaire was used to identify the learning styles of students. The study revealed that out of 1004 medical students, 64.2% preferred multimodal learning styles and rest 35.8% preferred unimodal learning styles. Among unimodal learning preferences, auditory (A) and kinesthetic (K) were the most preferred sensory modalities of learning. Among multimodal learning styles preferences, the combination of auditory & kinesthetic (AK) and auditory, read/write & kinesthetic (ARK) were predominant. There were only significant differences of the mean scores of visual (V) learning style among the male and female students. Majority of students preferred multimodal learning styles. Students are able to learn effectively as long as the teacher provides a blend of visual, auditory, read/writing and kinesthetic activates. The study recommended that teachers should be aware of the medical students' learning styles and aligning teaching-learning methods with learning styles will improve their learning and academic performance. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.10(2) 2019: 26-30


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 176-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitriy Chulkov ◽  
Jason VanAlstine

Purpose – Technology is changing the use of textbooks in higher education. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of offering multiple textbook formats in the same economics course using textbooks that provided multiple options including new and used printed books, as well as electronic books. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a survey conducted in nine sections of introductory economics classes at a public US university. The study took place within the confines of undergraduate courses that offered textbooks with multiple available formats. A survey collected information about the format each student selected, the factors that students considered when choosing the format, and their overall attitudes about their selection at the end of the semester. Demographic information was also recorded. Findings – The paper finds that students selected a variety of textbook options and identified the factors of cost, ease of use, and learning style as most important to their textbook format decision. Students overwhelmingly support the value of offering choice in textbook formats. In examining student selections further, the paper finds that among students that select an electronic textbook, cost is the dominant factor, while students selecting a new printed textbook mention their learning style and ease of use more often. Students that selected a used printed textbook identified cost, ease of use, and the ability to keep the textbook as factors important to them. Originality/value – This study provides evidence on the impact of having multiple textbook format options within the same course. Overall, the results suggest that the student population has diverse preferences and any uniform policy on textbook format selection may not satisfy the needs of all student groups. Furthermore, students themselves recognize the diversity in learning styles and see value in having options in textbook format selection.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephney Whillier ◽  
Reidar P. Lystad ◽  
David Abi-Arrage ◽  
Christopher McPhie ◽  
Samara Johnston ◽  
...  

Objective The aims of our study were to measure the learning style preferences of chiropractic students and to assess whether they differ across the 5 years of chiropractic study. Methods A total of 407 (41.4% females) full-degree, undergraduate, and postgraduate students enrolled in an Australian chiropractic program agreed to participate in a cross-sectional survey comprised of basic demographic information and the Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire, which identifies learning preferences on four different subscales: visual, aural, reading/writing, and kinesthetic. Multivariate analysis of variance and the χ2 test were used to check for differences in continuous (VARK scores) and categorical (VARK category preference) outcome variables. Results The majority of chiropractic students (56.0%) were found to be multimodal learners. Compared to the other learning styles preferences, kinesthetic learning was preferred by a significantly greater proportion of students (65.4%, p < .001) and received a significantly greater mean VARK score (5.66 ± 2.47, p < .001). Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time chiropractic students have been shown to be largely multimodal learners with a preference for kinesthetic learning. While this knowledge may be beneficial in the structuring of future curricula, more thorough research must be conducted to show any beneficial relationship between learning style preferences and teaching methods.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-122
Author(s):  
Kathryn Harden-Thew ◽  
◽  
Romy Lawson ◽  

Following the first two editions of her book, which she wrote solo, Celli has joined forces with colleague N D Young for the third edition. Celli and Young have prepared this book with the goal of giving instructors in postsecondary education “a primer on learning styles” (p.11). In a review of the second edition, Kovac (1999) highlighted the importance for educators of understanding the learning styles of their students to better present course content. Fifteen years later this statement remains true. With Kovac’s own teaching background in chemistry, he noted that it was challenging to address the differing learning preferences of all students in his classes. He pointed to the practical nature of Celli’s book in addressing these needs and offering pedagogic solutions. This third edition appears to have altered little, with an entry-level overview of learning-style theory, followed by an explanation of Celli and Young’s own learning-style theory. Celli and Young set out to address the struggle of every educator who seeks to improve pedagogic practice in the classroom through careful thought, planning and innovative implementation.


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