Learning Styles in Adult Education

Background Information

The purpose of the current analysis is to review the role of learning styles and to assess their role in impacting on the performance of student.  The study of instructor learning style was based on the premise that instructors teach, partially based on their own individual learning style.

The hypotheses to be tested are as follows: 

1. Students cluster in definite learning style groups

2. Learning style, which is fixed over a long period of time has a large impact on the ability to learn effectively

3. Teaching style (which is based on learning style) might be dissonant with student learning style may lead to poor students and teacher performance

4. There are important gender, ethnic origin, and generational differences between students that affect their learning ability, style, and performance.

It is a tradition in most classes for the instructor to ask students to introduce themselves. In a face-to-face class it takes the form of a two-minute verbal summary and in an online class it takes the form of submitting a short bio.  The purposes of this activity is to initiate the class socialization process and for the teacher to develop a better understanding of the background, interest and level of preparation of the student.  This is wholly inadequate.  Teachers should learn in detail what the students know about the subject matter.  They need to ascertain what the students wish to know (outcomes) and how it is relevant to their life and work and how they learn best.  The current analysis addresses this last question.

Protocol (see Slide 3)

The population under study is the students and instructors in the Technology Management Program (TMAN) at the University of Maryland University College in the Spring 2000. More than 1023 questionnaire  (addressing age, gender, ethnic origin, gap in education between bachelor degree and master program, and attitudes) and test instruments (Gregorc, R. M. Felder, Long/Dziuban) were posted on the WebTycho site  (for Internet-based classes) or where distributed to face-to-face students by their instructors.  More than 400 (they are still trickling in) returns were received a return rate in excess of 40 percent.  The analysis is based on 369 cases available at the time of the analysis. Additional data items (such as undergraduate GPA, cumulative graduate school GPA, number of WebTycho (WT) and face-to face  (F2F) classes taken, major, track, etc. were obtained from the records. The same tests with a different questionnaire were also applied to the instructors.

An Excel database was created and upon quality control and proper coding was imported into SPSS version 9 for analysis. In order to improve the response rate of students and because I am a teacher first, I promised and delivered to each student an individual report on their learning style in the hope that they would use this information to improve their effectiveness and performance.  I find that students, like all people being surveyed, consider time as their most valuable asset and will willingly fill in questionnaires and take tests if they receive something of value in return. In order to further improve the return rate, all forms were designed using the form feature of Word such that students only need to click on the appropriate box and e-mail the result to me for online students or mark the appropriate box with a pencil for face-to-face students.  The letter addressed to the student talkie advantage of marketing knowledge with permission marketing to create an environment where the students would participate in this survey and subsequent surveys. 

Learning styles (see Slides 4-11)

Studies of individual differences indicate that people have different styles of thinking and different methods of representing information. The word style is used in common language to describe differences between people.  Style is thus a set of individual qualities, activities and behavior that are maintained over a long period of time.  The appeal of the concept of style in learning is that it provides a framework for dealing with individuality.

The idea of style has been developed as a construct for many areas; personality, cognition, motivation, perception, learning, and behavior.   The great advantage of defining styles is that they appear to be robust in terms of temporal stability. More than 30 different theories of learning styles, and more than thirty instruments, for evaluating learning styles have been proposed.  But all is not confusion.  Most, if not all, techniques are based on developing a two fundamental dimensions of cognitive style that incorporate a holistic-analytic axis (thinking in whole or in parts) and a verbal-imagery axis (thinking verbally or in mental pictures).

Learning style appear to be distinct from intelligence, ability and personality (Riding & Rayner, 1999). Learning style (which is a special style having to do with the ingrained habits to organizing and representing information) comprises both cognitive styles and learning/ teaching strategies. Learning styles usually tend to integrate three basic components: cognitive organization, mental representation and the integration of both (Riding & Rayner, 1999).

The idea of learning or cognitive styles can be traced back to the ancient Greek and the model of personality created by Hippocrates that include four personality type: the melancholic, the sanguine, the phlegmatic, and the choleric.  Carl Gustav Jung placed the idea on a more scientific footing in his study of types. Jung introduced the concepts of extraversion and intraversion.   These two fundamental attitudes were derived from observations and experiences with human types that seem to be more interested in the object or the subject. In Jung’s view all of us possess both mechanism: extraversion with a prevalent outward flow of energy an reference to external objects and intraversion where the conscious content refers to the subject, and that these differences disposes to see life differently. Jung further divided these two types into a four-fold classification of thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition (Bennet 1983).These ideas were picked up later by the mother- daughter team of Myers and brigs and resulted in the  Myers- Briggs Test indicators (MBTI) which has been applied to more than 50 million individuals world wide. 

Strategies

Learning styles cannot easily be changed.  On the other hand, strategies are dynamic and adaptable to situations. It is not enough to develop an awareness of one’s learning style (for the student) and an awareness of the learning styles of a population of students (for the teacher), this awareness must be translated into a zone of comfort for learning and teaching strategies, respectively.  An astute learner will develop a repertoire of strategies that favor their preferred learning style but allow to deal for situations where the preferred learning style is not effective.  This strategy work includes developing goals, defining hypotheses, deciding on tactic for problem solving, discovering methods, assessing performance and revising goals.  The same process applies to instructors. In other words, strategy is a continuing process of self awareness (meta-cognition) and the acquisition, testing, and improvement of tactics, methods, and techniques for dealing with tasks.  Conversely, the role of the instructor is to work with students to help them build a repertoire of strategies to be called upon depending on the learning situation or environment.  The basic reason for strategy s the need to achieve performance and effectiveness in a world of change and dissimilarities and the fact that the preferred learning style might not be ideally matched to the situation at hand.  This repertoire of strategies include enhancing ones preferred learning style and expanding the range of learning styles by bringing into service learning style dimensions that are somewhat foreign but more applicable to the situation or task.

Scientific method

In a little book published almost 100 years ago (in 1909). The famed philosopher James made an impassioned plea for the use of the scientific method in education.  Learning style is one of the techniques that have the possibility of placing learning and teaching on a more scientific footing.

Description of learning styles instruments used

I selected three instruments to be used to obtain as complete as possible an ides of students and teachers learning styles.  These test were selected among some thirty competing instruments base on how widely they were used, their reliability and repeatability, their ease of interpretation in the learning/teaching context, their availability and cost.

Gregorc Style Delineator

The Gregorc style delineator is based on mediation ability theory that sees in the human mind channels through which information is received and expressed.  The ability (power, capability, efficiency) to utilize these channels is termed mediation abilities.  Two types of mediation abilities are incorporated in the Gregorc style delineator: perception and ordering.

Perception is defined in terms of two qualities: Abstractness and concreteness.  The quality of abstractness allow people to visualize data through their reason while the quality of concreteness enables to mentally register data through the direct use of physical senses.

Ordering refers to the way people arrange information.  Ordering is organized into two qualities: sequence and randomness.  This quality addresses how the mind grasp information either linearly in a step-by step process (sequence) or in a non-linear leaping fashion (randomness).  The coupling of these four qualities create the four transactional channels

The Gregorc Style Delineator is based on the idea that individuals learn through concrete experience and abstraction in either a random or sequential way.  This leads four styles of learning

• Concrete- sequential (CR) learners that that favor a step-by-step- orderly approach to organize sensory information

• Concrete- random (CR) learners who learn mostly by trial-and error.  They are also intuitive and independent.

• Abstract - sequential (AS) learners are strongly analytic and logical and favor verbal form of instruction.

• Abstract – random (AR) learners who prefer an unstructured environment and learner holistically.  They show strong visual preference toward instruction and information input.

The Gregorc Style delineator has been tested for reliability. Correlation between first and second test ion the same population yield a correlation coefficient of around 0.87, which is significant at a p level of <0.001 (Gregorc, 1982).

In an analysis of students in an introductory food science and human nutrition course 41 percent of students were CS, 15 percent AS, 27& AR and 19 percent CR (Schmidt, Javenkoski & Olson, 2000).

Richard M. Fedler

The Index of Learning style, developed primarily by R.M. Felder, cannot be considered to be validated at this time. The analysis of these styles is in term of information handling.

• Active versus reflective information processor: active learners are best at doing something active, while reflective learner like to think it through first before acting.

• Sensing learners tend to enjoy facts and data while intuitive learners prefer possibilities and relationships.

• Visual learners remember better pictures, diagrams, flow charts, tables of data, physical demonstration . Verbal learners get the most out of spoken words or written explanation

• Sequential learners tend to gain understanding about the world and situations through a linear, step-by step-process which is logical and systematic.  Global learners need to see the big picture before they tackle the details.  A sudden flash of understanding is characteristic of their approach to understanding. (Felder & Soloman, 2000)

Felder makes the cases for a matching between student learning styles and the teaching styles of professors or at least the striking of a balance of instructional methods to meet all the different learning styles available in a classroom (Felder).  He also proposes dire consequences associated with mismatching between learning styles of most students in a class and the teaching style.  Inattention, discouragement about the course, the curriculum or even the students abilities, and withdrawal are predicted

The Long/Dziuban Learning Style Inventory

Long observed ambivalence (simultaneous opposing feeling) in adolescents as they progress developmentally from a state of dependence to independence.  The theory hinges on important determinants of behavior.  Long defines personality in terms of reaction patterns and find that the intellect is a major resource in expressing this ambivalence.   Levels of sophistication play a major role. The rate of maturation is the time frame through which all developments take place.  Long defines two dimensions: aggressive/passive and dependence/independence.  The intersection of these dimensions produces the Long four basic reactive behavior types:

• Aggressive-independent.  Highly energized, action oriented people. They are risk-taker. They are leaders.

• Aggressive- dependent.  Highly energized but direct their energy toward obtaining approval.  They have superior intellectual capabilities and interact closely with instructors and participate actively in class. They are leaders but self-critical.

• Passive-independent.  They are stubborn but withdraw or become inactive when stressed. Control over authority is a primary goal.  They tend not to participate in class.

• Passive- dependent.  Low energy students who thrive on affection and approval.  They are extremely sensitive and do more than required.  They are kind, gentle people.

Long augments his four basic behavior types with auxiliary traits

• Phobic - develop focused and unrealistic fear

• Impulsive - unpredictably erratic

• Obsessive/compulsive - highly organized, methodical and fully planned.

• Hysteric - crisis-prone with little use for monotonous tasks.

Results and Findings  (see Slides 19-30)

General population

The student population is relatively homogeneous being made of working adult with an average age of 35 years ( the median age of the US population is 35.5 years) and a gap of some ten years between the securing of a bachelor degree and the entering into the MS program.  The student population is largely made of students with a technology background.  With the opening on the program to the world market, the type of students and their ethnic origin has changed dramatically in the last four years.

In our population females represent 44.1% of the sample while the general US population is 51.2 % women. 

Ethnic origin in our sample can be compare to the total US population as follows

Ethnic origin by gender in the general US population

Gregorc

Looking at the results on the Gregorc test we can summarize the basic information for the total population as follows

Comparing our result to those published by Schmidt et al

This compares to previously published data as follows:

Utilizing the learning style information in class

As an active teacher I often ask students to read supplement material to the book.  This consists of recent articles addressing a current important issue.  Rather than ask the students to report in a textual fashion or a verbal fashion what they have learned, I ask them to create a graphic presentation describing the essence of the article.  The results indicate that the students are very good at graphical understanding and representation.  I receive

• Tree diagram - indicating an attempt to parse the text for key ideas

• Flow chart - indicating an attempt to understand the process

• Venn diagram - indicating an attempt to sort out the logic, including the universe, inclusion, and exclusion

• Box diagram - indicating an attempt to look at relationships between elements

How does one deal with students that are either global or sequential in their method of understanding.  I deal with the global thinker by developing an overall subject matter system diagram.  This is a high level representation of all the elements of the subject matter and their relationships.  I use this diagram in a two-hour session, during the first class to provide an overview of the class subject matter to be covered in details in later sessions.  This addresses the method of understanding of global thinker.  I introduce this chart at the beginning of each section to indicate to the students where we have been and were we are doing, providing a kind of rough road map.  The sequential learner get their best understanding of the material in subsequent sessions when I explain step-by-step the logic, thinking,. approach, and method.

Gender Effect

In our sample we have more female than male Afro American; otherwise sexes are equally represented. In term of the psychological tests, we find more female that are abstract random than male in that category and more males that are abstract sequential.  Otherwise the sex distribution between categories is comparable.  In terms of the Fedler test, all categories are comparable except for visual input where box sec used this method of information acquisition predominantly over the verbal mode. Sixty two percent (62 %) of the males are visual and eighty two percent (82 %) of the females are visual.  In terms of the Long/Dziuban text more males are aggressive independent ( thirty one percent versus eighteen percent); all other categories being comparable.

Ethnic Origin Effect

In our sample Caucasians and Hispanic are underrepresented while African American and Asian are over represented.  Afro American are 24.2 percent of our sample while they are 12.8 percent of the general population.  Possibly indicating a later entry in the higher education arena by comparison with White Americans. Asiatic and Pacific Islander students represent 12.7 percent of our sample while they are represented at a rate of 4.0 percent  in the US population at large.  This is possibly associated with a growing world Asiatic population and the fact that our distance education now reach to a world population.

In terms of test results all ethnic origin groups score an intermediate on the Gregorc test in terms of dominance except for Subcontinent (mostly East Indians) representative who are dominant in terms of Concrete Random mode.  The same situation exists for the Abstract Sequential mode except that African American are more dominant and American Indian are more dominant (only 2 cases of American Indian).  The situation is totally reversed for the Concrete Sequential where all ethnic groups are dominant except for Hispanic.  This dominance being  more pronounced for Afro American, American Indian, and Subcontinent groups. The last group, The Abstract Random is more mixed with American Indian and Subcontinent being dominant and others being intermediate.  This is especially apparent for Caucasians with seventy one percent being intermediate in terms of dominance.

In terms of the Long Diziuban test, Afro American are largely Aggressive Independent and Passive Dependent.  Caucasian are mostly aggressive Dependent and Passive Dependent.  In terms of supporting traits, African American are equally distributed among phobic, impulsive, obsessive and hysteric; the same can be said of Caucasians. Asiatic students favor the hysteric trait. On the Fedler Active Versus Reflective characteristic, Afro American are clearly reflective while Caucasian are clearly active.  In terms of perception all ethnic group favor the Sensing mode except for Hispanic where no difference can be detected.  In terms of visual versus verbal input, all n populations favor the visual mode of input.  In terms of sequential versus Global Understanding, African American and American Indian are clearly sequential.  No real important differences exist for the other groups.

Attitude Questions  (see Slides 31-33)

Students were asked to answer two questions addressing their rationale for entering the MS in Management of Technology program and for selecting University of Maryland University College as their institution of choice.  The scale is a 0 to 5 Liekert scale.

In terms of the reasons for entering the MS program, the students gave more importance to the four choices given as follows: knowledge acquisition (4.45 average), obtaining a degree (4.06 average), career advancement (3.79 average) and career change (2.51 average).  Education is an addiction and the search for new knowledge is important6 for our students.

In terms of the reasons for selecting UMUC, the students gave more importance to the following factors in decreasing order: quality of courses (3.91 average), flexibility of program (3,87 average), quality of instructors (3.55 average), proximity to UMUC (3.09 average) and tuition cost (2.64).  These answers confirm our strategy that focuses on quality and flexibility.  Proximity is still important since about 75 percent of our students are still located in the Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia areas.  Is not surprising that tuition cost are relatively inportant6 since more than 80 percent of the students have their tuition cost reimbursed by their employer upon securing a grade of B or better.

Conclusions

Students appear to be substantially different in terms of intelligence, ability, aptitudes, attitudes and experience.  A typical class of 25 to 30 students will present to the instructor  a range of these qualities as well as a diversity of learning styles and cognitive methods.  This means that instructors must incorporate in their class material enough material, methods of delivery to address the need of each and all students.  This can be achieved by developing a comprehensive knowledge of students learning styles.

References

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Riding, R. & Rayner, S. (1999). Cognitive styles and learning strategies: Understanding style differences in learning and behavior. London: David Fulton Publishers.

Schmidt, S. J., Javenloski, J.S. & Olson, B.F. (2000). Accommodating different learning styles using a variety of teaching strategies in an introductory food science and human nutrition course. Available at http://www.confex2.com/ift/99annual/abstracts/4338.html