Learning Style Preferences of Computing Students in Distance Education

Abstract

This paper reports on initial findings from an experiment that investigated differences in computing students' learning style preferences and the relation with observed work related practices. A repeated measures experimental design was used in which four questionnaires were administered to students online via the web. The students were asked to complete the questionnaires both before and after studying the object-oriented programming part of an introductory distance education course in computing. Three questionnaires were used to measure learning and cognitive style preferences: Honey and Mumford's (Honey, 1986;Honey & Mumford, 1995) Learning Styles Questionnaire, a modified version of the Grasha and Reichmann Student Learning Styles Scales and an English translation of Antonietti and Giorgetti's Questionnaire on Visual and Verbal Styles. The fourth questionnaire gathered demographic information including perceived level of comfort with computing and related measures. Thepreliminary results indicate that certain observed behavior in the students may be due to learning style preferences. The results also suggest that in a distance learning environment, provision must be made for collaborative learning as well as independent learning. This result is applicable to both genders. For males alone, however, the strong correlation found between activist and avoidant preferences suggests that their observed behavior in avoiding face-to-face activities may be due to a learning style preference as well as to issues related to life-style.

Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Distance Education Students' Learning Styles and Critical Thinking Dispositions in Turkey

“…According to Grasha (1996) independent learners prefer to learn by themselves and they show confidence in their abilities in the learning process. These results corroborate the findings of previous works in this field (Bahar, 2009;Logan & Thomas, 2002). Logan & Thomas (2002) revealed that the most preferred learning style of distance students was the independent style.…”

“…These results corroborate the findings of previous works in this field (Bahar, 2009;Logan & Thomas, 2002). Logan & Thomas (2002) revealed that the most preferred learning style of distance students was the independent style. On the other hand this finding is in contradiction with previous results reported by Alasya (2011), Diaz & Cartnal (1999), Uzuntiryaki, Bilgin, & Geban (2004) and Sonalee et al, (2006).…”

Adaptive E-Learning Based on Learner's Styles

“…There are different tools used to categorize each person according to their learning styles: Kolb questionnaire, honey and Mumford questionnaire [10][11], GRSLSS questionnaire [11], Myers-Briggs type indicator [12], and finally Felder-Silverman.…”

Tracing the Relationship Between Pre-service Teachers’ Learning Styles and Attitudes Toward Online Learning

“…Keefe (1989) (quoted by Logan & Thomas, 2002) denoted a learning style as a combination of cognitive, affective, and psychological factors linking with how a student perceives, interacts, and reacts to a particular learning environment. Therefore, it can be asserted that a learning style covers a number of factors reflecting one's preferences in a learning situation and includes their cognitive styles (Logan & Thomas, 2002). Considering learning styles, defined as the ways people prefer to learn, contributes to the efficiency of the learning process.…”