What about the different learning styles?

In my previous post I discussed good practice in the online learning environment.  Moving on from that I thought it appropriate to look at individual learning styles because we as educators may have the best pedagogical knowledge but as it has been argued, if the learning style and teaching style don’t match then this can cause issues with performance or discourage students (Chen, Jones & Moreland, 2014).  It can be a struggle for educators to address individual learning needs in face-to-face delivery let alone in an online learning environment.  So, how do they do it?  This post will offer an overview of learning styles and how to establish what students' learning styles are and how to address them in the e-classroom based on research in the field.

Much of the research based on learning styles tend to make reference to Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Theory as a suggestive way to establishing learning styles.  There are also references to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences and VAK learning style models, however, we will just focus on Kolb's theory in this post. 

Kolb depicts four basic learning styles: Accommodative; assimilative; divergent; and convergent. Within each style are a combination of two of four learning modes: Concrete experiences; reflective observation; abstract conceptualization; and active experimentation.  Richmond and Cummings (2005) also emphasise the need to include Kolb and Fry’s four different learning environments which they assert are effective when catering for the different learning styles and learning modes.  They are: the affective learning environment, the symbolic learning environment, the perceptual learning environment and the behavioural learning environment.  Richmond and Cummings describe in detail the relationship between the learning styles, learning modes and learning environments however, the table and figure below gives you a conceptual view of the relationships and also suggests approaches to delivery.

 

 

So what next? Well, we need to find out what our students’ learning styles are so we can best cater to their learning needs.  Chen, et al. sought to do this in their study of accounting students in both traditional classroom settings and the online classroom.  In order to find out what the learning styles were, they administered a survey based on Kolb’s learning style inventory which is available online.  The results showed that online learners tended to favour the converging style with secondary emphasis on the assimilating style.  Students from the traditional classroom setting favoured the assimilating style first then the converging style.  With this knowledge, an educator would be able to add activities within their delivery to cater to their students’ needs.  We can then refer back to our table and figure above as to ways to do this.  For example, students who favour the assimilating style would require more emphasis on theory whereas accommodating style learners would prefer more application-based learning (Muir, 2001).  Muir’s article is also an invaluable resource for more information on instructional suggestions for the online classroom and even includes her perception of the ‘ideal online course’.

The students studying online are still the same types of people we occur in traditional classroom settings.  However, it is the learning environment which is different.  Establishing the types of learners you have, added with good practice conducive to their learning environment will surely assist in effective learning in your online classroom.

Chen, C.C., Jones, K.T., & Moreland, K. (2014). Differences in learning styles. The CPA Journey, (84)8, 46-51.

Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experential learning: Experience as the source of learning and developent. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Muir, D. (2001). Adapting online education to different learning stles. National Education Computing Conference "Building on the Future". Chicago, IL: Intelligent Education, Inc.

Richmond, A. S., & Cummings, R. (2005). Implementing Kolb's learning styles into online distance education. International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning 1(1), 45-54.