Greetings,
My take on learning style is that it is a name for an empirical concept (with respect to learners) that we commonly call “preference.”
Our experience informs us that there are several components to what we call “individual differences” and that understanding these differences can help us support individual learners.
I think of these components as follows:
- ability (prior knowledge)
- capability (intelligence)
- motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic)
- preference (learning styles)
That support should be considered more vital, the more you conceive of learning and knowledge as something at least in part that is highly individualized or “idiosyncratic.”
With this conceptual framework, I conducted an experiment to see how learning style might relate to learner satisfaction in the context of contrasting course delivery modes (traditional classroom instruction vs. e-blended).
My literature review and the (significant) results of my study have influenced my thinking about the use of visual materials in courses (and the highly visual nature of online courses), especially where learners self-identify as having a more visual preference and/or I measure learning preferences using learning style “inventory” such as the free Web-based questionnaire and automated data analysis described in my presentation).
Here is a Web-based PowerPoint of my conference presentation (optimized for Internet Explorer browser):
http://www.programhouse.com/webpres/phecel09pres1.htm
And here is a link to the published research paper in an online (open access) journal (requires Adobe Reader for file in .pdf format):
http://www.programhouse.com/phlsijhssv2-2-12.pdf
Your comments are welcome in reply,
Doc
Doc,
Student satisfaction has a wide area of exploration, not only as web delivery instruction but in any type of instruction. As I remember from my constructivist class, we discussed this subject as part of the instructional designer skills while designing tools toward the delivery of certain instruction or training. Considering the audience in all aspects and make the student the centered of this learning is a key instrument to make the instruction effective. And one of the tools to do so is the assessment performed by the instructor before, throughout, and after the class or training. Being able to anticipate our audience likes and characteristics is a great advantage that a constructivist designer can have, besides the window of opportunities to adapt to each student learning style. Yes, designing and applying a student-centered instruction may become a time consuming task at the beginning but with experience and support from other designers there should be enough resources to implement a type of instruction to satisfy all students.
Response to Doc article on Learning Style and Learner Satisfaction
I read your research paper and viewed your research presentation. This discussion fits nicely with my desire to conduct research into online learning delivery methods, study and results.
Your paper and presentation were interesting reading. I have thought the increased use of highly visual asynchronous web-based learning would result in better comprehension of material and as this study demonstrates increased satisfaction with learned material. As I have helped adult students learn computer skills and programming languages, I have discovered many of them comprehend the material better and retain it longer when it is (1) presented on-screen, (2) reviewed as long as necessary and (3) can be easily retrieved after moving through the lesson. My limited research is based on several separate tutoring/learning experiences.
As we advance in our use of web-based asynchronous learning to meet the educational, commercial, and military needs, the need for increasing learner satisfaction and achievement must be considered and studied.
Although I think the study sample size was very small, 45 total participants, it does present compelling reasons to conduct larger, similar studies.
Jeff Seeley
Thanks to both of you early posters for your thoughtful comments, both on the constructivist value that learning style support can provide and on the experiential insights that lend support to these initial findings (albeit with a small, but controlled experimental setting).
I hope that researchers and practitioners in online learning will build more understanding through their efforts in this area of individual differences.
I am stuck on on your observation on the importance of visual materials and learners. Yes, Yes, Yes. I have conducted research with Agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Agents from the Federal Aviation Administration, students of post-secondary language classes, and more.
In those observations, guess what I found? Over 75% of people learned visually as opposed to verbal and logical (mathematical), while over 85% learned sequentially, rather than randomly or abstractly.
I thought it interesting that as I created training movies for the Agents, management (operative word “management”) said to just create something quickly because they had a deadline and the request entailed series of movies to be strictly informational. As I polled the Agents, I begin hearing comments such as “we prefer diagrams”, “hands on”, “visual training”, “face to face trainings”, “actual examples of solutions”, etc. I realized that making movies that are strictly informational would be disruptive to the Agents’ learning. So, I risked adding to what management requested and decided to build hands on simulations of the technology the Agents would be learning. They were placed in an authentic environment. And guess what response the Agents had to the visually stimulating learning this time around? THAT’S RIGHT……
So, I agree with visual learning in whatever form is best for the constituents.
Thanks Saz for highlighting the importance of placing user needs as the top instructional design priority and doing what you can to convince management that beyond meeting deadlines, you have to meet those needs.
User research is vital at an early point in design, including action research that is less formal and time-consuming. And if the users are predominantly visual and express that preference strongly, then it approaches need. I applaud you for that achievement and sharing it with us.
Response to Learner styles and Satisfaction PowerPoint.
After reviewing your power point on Learner Styles and Satisfactions, I agree with you data analysis and results. After completing the e Learning program online, I prefer to take my classes online, where I can instantly access course material online and follow along in group discussions. Since I am visual learner I am able to retain information that is presented to me Visually..
Hi Cindy, I am glad that you found the conference presentation useful – especially as I understand that you will likely be embarking on similar research. It really has a place in action research as well because teachers and trainers can use this free, Web-based questionnaire and get actionable data from which to then address this important area of individual difference in their instructional design and delivery.
Upon taking the Felder-Soloman Index, I was –like some others in your study- by the only moderate preference for visual information, since I consider myself a very visual person. However, unlike those studied, I view text less as a ‘visual’ than verbal. If I can narrate it and supply the same information, it seems closely related. A visual format often offers information that might not be expressible via text / narration like “what does this actually look like?†I could describe visual information, but the information found in an image or illustration offers a richer degree of data quickly, or an exact replication. It is more experiential. An item, such as a point chart could be described or summarized, but I feel the actual chart offers both specifics (each point) and context simultaneously – difficult with text or narration. I do agree that I remember written information better than spoken, but only when the spoken information lacks a visual element. Often, before I remember the idea, I can actually remember the words – like they were written in my book or notes.
I was actually interested in the findings of the study. I wonder what impact online learning – which incorporated audio or video – might have for online learners with different preferences. I also wonder to what percentage of visuals vs. text might best assist learners. Also, were there any findings on the other scales of the study? That is, were the only statistically significant differences visual/verbal or where those the only learning preferences considered?
Hi Cassandra, thanks for sharing your results of taking the LSI, especially how your preferences and memory distinguish images from text. As for the impacts and application of the findings, I am already using more purely visual information in my online courses, including video segments and the feedback supports that increased use. I am also continuing to offer the LSI and encourage sharing of results in my courses so that I can consider the unique needs of each group and provide the right balance of media by type. As for other significant results of my study, only the visual-verbal dimension was significant. The other three dimensions had very weak correlations and no statistical significance.
After reading the presentation I began to think how learner satisfaction might effect performance. How does learner satisfaction effect learner motivation? Do learners who enjoy how the course is delivered perform better in the class?
I’m a big proponent of people figuring out their learning styles. At the beginning of each school year, I have my students complete questions similar to the Felder-Soloman Index to determine their learning styles and discuss ways in which knowing this information can help them in their own studying. I also find it is helpful to me in preparing my own instruction, especially when a particular student needs individual or additional help with something.
I think that, even if, for whatever reason, an instructor cannot accomodate the different learning styles of his/her students, it is definitely beneficial to at least be aware of what the different learning styles are and how best to design instruction to address those different styles whenever possible.
Thanks Verlinda and Katrina for your comments. Yes, there is a correlation between satisfaction and performance (as per findings in one research article I cited in my research report), but it is an area worth exploring further in various contexts. And I agree with the value of at least being aware of the varied preferences of learners and trying to address them however possible.
After reading your presentation and taking the LSI, the result of my LSI was not different from what I think it will be before taking the test. Previous test like this have equally indicated that am well balanced between the two dimensions of the scale.I prefer a blended approach or learning style,as confirmed by my learning style results.This balanced approach to me is well rounded and help bring learners from the other spectrum of the pendulum up to speed. The ultimate goal as you indicated in your PowerPoint presentation is whether or not we meet learner satisfaction.
I agree John that balance is something we often need to achieve in our own preferences as well as in the way we present information to learners. Sometimes though, learners thrive on a skew in this balance along one or more dimensions and that diversity (in the extremes) can also prove to be a benefit (as long as learners collaborate).
In my previous online class,I enjoyed the diversity in the classroom and was surprised that their was a lot of team work. Other benefits includes better time management,less stress. It is however important to note that if you are not self motivated, you may not be successful in an online learning environment.
This kind of environment helped me revealed self learning inadequacies and over coming them increased my self-esteem.Above all I enjoyed the fact that I can study in my own way and cognizant of the available scaffold from my instructor when needed.
I viewed your presentation and found that the results were what I would expect based on my experience in both types of settings. Have you done further research comparing traditional classrooms, e-blended classrooms, and totally online classes? To what degree do you think the subject matter of the class would effect the research? For example, if it was a poetry class students may prefer the traditional classroom setting where they can hear the tone of voice of the reader while at the same time observe the expressions. I know this could be done online with media tools, but I wonder what the learner preference would be. My experience with learning styles is at the other end of the student spectrum. I worked with elementary aged students. Students of this age usually aren’t able to reflect on their own learning style. Thus, as a teacher, I was often tasked with trying to identify a student’s learning style from observing him. This can be quite a task, but it is necessary in order to individualize instruction.
Thanks John and Jennifer for sharing the student and teacher perspectives on learning style and online courses. I haven’t planned other learning style research, but Jennifer’s ideas seem like fruitful areas of further enquiry, especially the problem area of identifying learner preferences among younger learners.
Hi Doc,
After viewing your presentation I realized that your study is very similar to my proposed research problem. As the LSI indicated, I have a tendency to visual learning but I do think verbal instruction is very helpful. Like John I prefer a blended approach. I would like to see more online courses that offer a blended approach (both visual & verbal). I do believe that learning style is very important to the outcome learner satisfaction. In addition to that I think motivation is also very important. My undergrad degree focused a lot on the importance of the WIFM (what is in it for me?) to help increase motivation for the many learners required to take a course. What are your thoughts about this?
Doc,
This is getting very interesting because I was reading your PowerPoint presentation and journal when the thought of helping instructors create online courses back home (Ghana) came to mind. For the last 3-6yrs, a lot of private universities especially U.S and U.K universities have been established in the country where you have one instructor taking up to 5 classes with some having to lecture at 3 or more universities. So for such an instructor it would be a lot easier to have an online class to cut down on the time spent travelling as well as save energy and money. But the question is, how would the students adjust to online instruction since most of them are new to technology and also the lack of computers to cater for these students is also going to be a problem at the undergraduate level. But for the graduate level where most of these students are full time workers and school on a part-time basis, this will be the best option for them where they can even study in the comfort of their home (study) after a hard day’s work. Also because of the large size of these classes where students end up getting anything out of the class, online work would be the most appropriate for these students.
Thanks Rachel and Carl for sharing your ideas about learning style, motivation, and the advantage of online learning. I agree with both of you on the need to consider more ways to accommodate the needs (and preferences and drives) of learners – which often means more variety in the use of media and in the context of delivery. Learners and teachers should be given more options and support to enable these solutions.
Learning styles and learner satisfaction is an interesting topic. Being introduced to constructive learning environment theories last semester, the importance on the student/learner is greatly emphasized and hope more educators are catching on.
Having experience as a trainer for adult learners, I find it interesting to try to create learning modules and simulations that are less objective, an environment most of these adult learners find comfortable. Come to think of it, I might be one of these learners as I’ve become use to navigating on how to gain knowledge in traditional settings.
I’m aware of my preferences but cannot pinpoint what works best all the time. I think it depends on the subject at hand. There are times when I need to hear and watch the professor to concentrate more , as my mind does easily get swayed.
My concern now is being able to stay focused and may need to examine how an e-blended environment affects my learning satisfaction.
Hi Monu, I like your association between the use of learning style discovery and accommodation and constructivist learning environments. To the extent that learners may under certain conditions favor instructivist over constructivist, this support process should apply there as well. I don’t see anything inherent in the online method of teaching and learning that would restrict it to one or the other – and it may offer more latitude and time than onsite courses for this kind of support.
I disagree with you John. My experience with online classes is more stress and less team work. I find that online courses offer a bit of anonymity-since you dont have to communicate with people face to face-for some people means not using social graces or taking care to not offend others. I found it motivationally draining and stressful (my first online class was an undergrad writing class-thinking of Jennifer’s example of the poetry class). I too prefer a blended class and learn better visually.
Doc,
I enjoy online classes because I am able to attend class from my home and work a full 10 hour day. I have enjoyed meeting people from all over the world and in some classes team members have posted pictures of themselves. The online classes have taught me the importance of team work in class and at my work. I am almost finished with my classes and I am looking forward to receiving my degree. I often tell people at work about the University of Phoenix online classes and what a great experience I have had learning.
This is so interesting. It poses a great question. I remember telling my father that online information was going to change our culture. I have already noticed that people are more willing to speak to strangers than they used to be. It used to be true that in an airport there were strangers willing to talk and pass the time and strangers that weren’t. I would love to poll the willing conversationalists and see if they are internet savvy. I think you will find they are. Just a theory. It never occurred to me that this would change my cognitive functions as well. Nicely done, Doc. I enjoyed the read! On to peruse some more……
Very interesting concept- I think that the technology today is making the possibilities of reaching students on an individual level a more attainable goal. One thought that came to me within this is the role that a student’s prior knowledge plays in their satisfaction levels within an e-blended course. I’m sure that there has been a change within the last few generations of students in terms of expectations/need for visual support. Working with upper elementary/ middle school students I have begun to feel that a more “traditional” means of instruction doesn’t reach them and/or interest them because they have grown up in a multi-media world.
Response to Doc’s article and PowerPoint presentation.
Understanding student’s learning styles and making appropriate accommodations are essential to influence learner’s satisfaction. From my own learning and teaching experience, I observed that most young learners tend to be visual and hands-on learners. They tend to learn by seeing and doing, esp. elementary students. They love pictures and cartoons. They like coloring, singing, and making things. In this way young learners can focus on task. On the contrary, many adult learners would rather to record and follow instructions. They would like to make notes before they actually try things. One good example is a summer workshop that I attended. The topic of that workshop is educational technology and classroom application. There were about 20 learners. Half were in their 20s and half were above 35. When it came to a new software or website, the younger group could easily get started to open and manipulate the software or log onto websites; the older group tended to listen to instructors introductions and made notes before they could get started.
Felder and Soloman’s statement about college classes are quite meaningful and true to me. That’s why I chose this EDIT 590 online course for a change this semester. I took the learning style inventory created by Felder and Soloman. The results showed that I am quite a sensing and visual learner. Hopefully, I could really get something from this online course.
Thanks!
Hi Billy, Thanks for viewing the online presentation of my learning style research. In your comments you have identified age as a related variable. It would be interesting to explore how age is correlated with various dimensions of learning style as you have illustrated in your case.
I’ve read your research paper as well as your presentation, it is pretty interesting and brings lots of thoughts regarding my project. I believe it is appealing how you outlined the parts of understanding individual differences! I agree with the statement that learning and knowledge are highly individualized. I also enjoyed reading the responses where I felt I learned from them as well. I did not know that there is a large percentage of vision learners, that is pretty interesting. I am a true believer and supporter of treating everyone the same, but when coming to the point that individuals have different capabilities and understanding or way of understanding and how to deal with it? That is an interesting thought.
Billy and Karen’s observations on age resonated with me as well. In my workplace, I definitely see a disparity between MTV Generation and Gen Y with those coworkers that are Gen X or older with regard to their approach to new technology. I would also be curious as to how age correlates with learning styles. Another thing I thought of when reviewing the presentation and article was how marketers are increasingly using personalization/customization to differentiate their product from other similar ones in the market place. Lots of time and effort can be spent to do this and the cost benefit is sometimes not worth it. You discuss the time and effort involved in modifying course delivery in the last section of your article. As a perfectionist, I would struggle with wanting to constantly tweak the delivery. At what point do you walk away?
Hello,
Interesting topic, I can relate that some students are more visual and some need more text. I am in the middle I enjoy both worlds. I have taken online courses and appreciate when the instructor has everything laid out in an orderly fashion, because it makes sense to me verses trying to search for a topic or link within a website. I think online learning is improving I have been lucky so far that all my on-line classes have been easy to follow. I think understanding the students learning is a huge plus when trying to create an on-learning class for a course not everyone will fall into the same category unless you are creating for a group of students that have the same issues then the results can be amazing. Especially for children/maybe around 10-13 (I am just guessing and remembering my experience for age) when learning can be frustrating when you do not get it the first time this can either encourage a person to continue learning or change the attitude towards a negative and not continue to learn.
Thanks Nof, Melissa, and Rosanna for your thoughtful comments on my research, presentation, and on applying the concept of learning style to instruction. You have all raised several interesting areas to explore or resolve.
On the issue of cost/benefit, there can be diminishing returns, but in general, when you work with learning style analysis as aggregated representations of learners (or Web site users, etc), the benefits typically exceed the costs. An additional approach is offering alternative media or instructional styles from which learners self-select.
One course I completed recently dealt with learner satisfaction from a different angle. We did not go into learning styles. Rather, we looked at comfort with technology (as Melissa mentions) and whether the student felt isolated. I have noticed that you have taken the isolation factor into account by incorporating interactions as necessary activities in your course. I agree also that learning styles are a very important factor in learner satisfaction.
If I understand your presentation correctly, it sounds like the population of your study considers printed text on a computer (web, email, chat, etc.) to be more visual. I guess that would be opposed to more textbook-based reading done in a classroom. This is an interesting point and raises a few questions for me. Is there something different about visual material presented on a screen as opposed to a book or a blackboard? In my view, I would tend to view the web environment as less auditory, not necessarily more visual. How much is this lack of audio (i.e., listening to a lecture) a factor in the correlation? Also, if lectures were done as audio, or audio-visual presentations on the web, would that make a difference? What if you had two groups of students attend the SAME section of the course, with one group being there in the class and the other group attending via web cam? (So presumably they would have a nearly identical experience except that one would be live and one would be through a computer. I guess you could also have the classroom students use computers while in class, but somehow I think that would lead to less retention of the lecture material.)
When looking at the experiences of your two groups, I’d be curious to know how much the immediacy of access to other material via the web may have influenced the web-as-visual interpretation of the students. When working on a class online, it’s very easy to search for and call up additional material, which could not only be considered more visual, but more interactive. And what would stop the more visual students in the classroom from going home and doing their work for the class online (which presumably they are anyway)? I guess I have more questions than comments, but it’s an interesting area of study. And I’ll be doing something quite similar for my project!
Thanks Donna and Philip for your comments. Donna brings up an interesting point that deserves focus in another study: what is the relationship between learning style and the nature of learner interactions in an online or onsite course. Philip’s questions deserve similar attention – as I suggest in the conclusion of my paper – appropriate for a subsequent study such as the one he proposes.
I was surprised by the findings. If I read the presentation correctly it implied that visual learners were more satisfied with an online course than with a traditional classroom situation. Being a visual and auditory learner myself I learn better when information is explained and modeled. I wonder if there was not another variable at play? Perhaps another component like attention could have also factored in? In learning, I know when I read or have many materials in front of me I am easily distracted and its hard to organize and prioritize new information regardless of whether it is a classroom or on a computer but when I have verbal information along with visual cues for organizing I do better, again, regardless of the setting. It seems to me that the physical materials and delivery method (classroom or online) matter less than the sensory stimuli that is employed. Perhaps the visual learners would have been equally satisfied in the classroom situation if the same techniques were available for learning. I know that I would love an online course that has video lessons and discussions opposed to written. Perhaps I’m interpreting the outcomes incorrectly but I hope this makes some sense.
Thanks Anjelika for your comments. Learners with greater visual preference were more satisfied with the online environment part of a hybrid version of this course described in this study, but I consider that some generalization can be made to online-only courses and there is some support there in other studies. Other factors should be explored such as attention, but at the core of the problem area between visual and verbal as being the equivalent of seen or heard, I think that the course delivery platform and the sensory stimuli tend to follow each other (whether by physical constraint and/or preference) in the sense of classroom lectures being primarily aural and Web based information primarily visual (including written text).
The results of the study were actually not surprising to me. I recently read a study that said there is an increase in visual learners especially those that have grown up with video games and instantaneous feedback. The online course utilizing a strong visual component, changes the role of the learner from passive to active. It makes the learner responsible for managing the learning content. The visual context of the information is game-like in its presentation of the information and is a comfortable format the game savvy learner. The visual presentation not only provides a picture, but often there is sound which tap multiple sensory inputs for synthesizing and storing the information so that it can become knowledge. As I read some of the other comments I also wondered about the age distribution of the respondents. Younger learners with greater familiarity may have a preference for online learning verses scheduled classroom activities. More mature learners having grown up with schedules and rigid rules may be more comfortable in a defined classroom setting. The age distribution is an interesting factor to consider when determining learner preferences.
Thanks Susan for your thoughts on this problem area and the findings of my study. Although I think there are age-related factors that are worth exploring, age is typically confounding in that it is usually in a parcel that includes more determinant factors like prior knowledge or experience that is associated with a person’s age, so it may be more helpful to focus on (or at least include) prior knowledge.
You may also be interested in my followup presentation described on the following blog entry:
Online Presentation Strategies for Visual Learners
https://programhouse.com/wordpress/?p=110
After reviewing the article and presentation, I confirmed my belief about learning styles and course delivery modes. As a student of the visual learner style, I found this research to be very interesting. I started to think back to my college days where I’d sit in a 300+ lecture where I could barely see the chalkboard. There was no other supplemental material besides the lecture and what was written on the chalkboard- it was the opposite of constructivist. Of course, my satisfaction for a course of this type was very low.
It seems the consensus is that most people are visual learners and respond more well to e-blended delivery than traditional course delivery. I have to wonder how instructors balance a classroom of non-visual and visual learners. I assume a blended approach can be the answer to this question, but you have to ask the instructor: how do you cater to these varying learning styles to ensure every student learns to the best of their ability (..and are satisfied)?
I found the Felder and Soloman Learning Style Inventory to be a very useful tool that I might be able to use in my data gathering efforts. I did a web search of other learning style inventories and was surprised to find there are many. I started to wonder if the results of this study could have been different if a different inventory was used which was not based on the four bi-polar dimmentions like the Felder and Soloman Learning Style Inventory. I also started to think about how you decide which is the best tool to use. After doing a little research on these types of tools and taking into consideratin certain attributes and components of your sample, you could decide the best tool to use.
This study was very interesting but in ways did not surprise me. Being a visual learner myself, I find that I prefer the visual nature to online courses. Let me further refine this by saying I prefer interactive, graphic intensive courses to “page-turners”. It would be interested to go more in-depth in this study to look at different types of learning environments in online courses as it relates to learner satisfaction. For instance, would learners be more inclined to using a Virtual Learning Environment approach to an online learning environment, such as one built in Second Life, or would learner satisfaction lean more towards a Blackboard style course? Investigating within the realm of visual learners would be intriguing. I think that would open up the WIIFM can of worms, especially when it comes to adult learners. Do they want the information provided to them, or would they be looking to discover it on their own?
Have you had any plans to further expand this research into such a realm, Doc, or are there other areas that you see that need further discovery?
On a separate note, Susan, I found your comments interesting. Do you have a link to the paper you read about more learners being visual based, especially those exposed to video games? That sounds very interesting to me and makes sense. In our EDIT 752 class where we are designing a mobile learning app, we are taking visuals into great consideration as our key audience is high school students, who are heavily embedded in video games.
After reading the research paper and viewing the presentation, it made sense to me intuitively that there is a strong correlation between visual learners and learner satisfaction in a hybrid course format with a significant online component. I took the Felder-Soloman Index and was shown to have a moderate preference for verbal learning. Your research made me look at ways that I could use this learning style to refine my learning process in both traditional and online course formats. I appreciate that your research emphasized how highly individualized learning is for people. I also would love to see further studies of how the learning style influences learner satisfaction in different online course formats. For instance, if an online course is largely text-based, does that correlate to strong learner satisfaction with students with moderate to strong verbal learning styles. The online course format dealing with how much text versus graphical information is used would be interesting to research in this context.
I can see how tailoring courses, whether online or traditional, for individuals with disparate learning styles can be a daunting challenge. However I think research like yours is useful to keep us moving in a direction which can increase the collaboration within the Instructional Design and Education communities. In my opinion, I think the Instructional Design process will continue to become more collaborative with various individuals who represent their learning style when making design decisions.
After reading and thinking about your conclusion on learning styles and learner satisfaction in course delivery, I am curious if there is a correlation between learning styles, preference, and graduate education students. I wonder if you used a different population such as graduate math students, if you would get the same results. The sample students used in your study would be more familiar with the subject domain than other graduates may be. I wonder if this creates a bias?
The results of your study are in line with what I would have predicted the outcome to be, however I am now curious of what the results would be with a larger population sampled across different graduate programs…..
Doc,
Interesting article. However, I’m still sceptical of the relevance of learning styles and learner satisfaction. To my mind, what is most significant is whether or not learner satisfaction can predict learning outcomes. You cite one study that supports this (p. 72 or your article, citation 3), however, it looks like that study found that learning styles affect perceived learning outcome. I do not see where they conclude that “learner satisfaction was a significant predictor of learning outcomes” as you state in your article. Admittedly, I did not read the Eom, Ashill & Wen article very closely. Perhaps you could point me to the conclusion you found.
Further in the Eom, Ashill & Wen article, they state that “Although students are in general satisfied with online
courses, they believe that they did not learn more in online courses or they believe that the quality of online courses was not better than face-to-face class” (p. 229). From this it seems clear that learner satisfaction does not predict perceived learning outcomes.
I’m not sure that it is important to increase learner satisfaction through modifying courses to suit learning styles if that satisfaction cannot be shown to increase learning outcomes.
Thanks Alison, Kathleen, Andrew, Windy, and Sally for sharing your ideas about my research study and its findings. I think that all of your ideas bear further consideration and study, including additional research in the areas you suggest. My study was really exploratory in nature and given its constraints, I am hesitant to make strong generalizations and await further studies involving these variables.
What I do find worthy of note (and further study in other settings and contexts) is that while testing across all four dimensions of the LSI, it was only the visual-verbal dimension that produced significant correlations and that those correlations were inversely related across the two divergent course delivery approaches.
As for the relationship between learner satisfaction and learner performance, I am not making any generalizations based on my study, but there too, I sense there is a natural association (perhaps not easily predictive) and the study I cite makes that association as well as what I believe each of us recognize from our own experience: the more that information is presented in a manner suiting our preferences, the more satisfied we are as learners, and the better we tend to perform as learners. However, this chain of associations bears further attention in additional studies.
The results indicated that visual learners were more satisfied with the hybrid course than the classroom version; conversely this means verbal learners were more satisfied with the classroom version. Felder / Soloman interpreted the written word as part of verbal learning while the students considered this as visual material. I think this confounded the study and, as noted by the author, this needs further investigation. I would agree that verbal learners would be more satisfied with a class environment than visual learners if there was a perception of more discussion and reading rather than visual materials (illustrative imagery). Given the students’ interpretation that the online supports visual learners, those that participated in the hybrid version must have felt that the online portion of the class tipped the scale such that the visual learners were more satisfied than the verbal learners. I think that further investigation might better identify what constitutes visual versus verbal. Also, I wonder about the impact of the other dimensions on the visual-verbal dimension for overall learner satisfaction.
As a former special education teacher, I have long been interested in the concept of learning styles. Years ago I read a book (can’t remember the reference), that stated that learning styles are most important at initial delivery of new information. For example, if you are a visual learner, your first contact with any new information should be through a visual channel. If you are verbal, you should hear new information, and perhaps have an opportunity to respond verbally during that initial introduction to a topic or concept. The author suggested that teachers should assign homework based on learning style. A visual learner would be assigned to read a chapter. A verbal learner would be assigned to listen to the chapter on tape. It’s an intriguing idea, but a nightmare for the instructor to implement, particularly with elementary school students. It might work with college students if material was available in a variety presentation modes – i.e., the examples provided in Doc’s presentation – and if students purposefully chose assignments that matched their styles.
I took an online course about Troy and the Trojan War last year at Northern Virginia Community College. It was taught by Diane Thompson and her site and homework assignments offered great diversity and choice which allowed students to choose different ways to obtain and respond to information. You could respond to an assignment by making a video and uploading it to You-tube! Many parts of her site are available to non-students at http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/Eli/Troy/new/troyweb/index.html
I am a visual learner, but don’t love online classes. I enjoy being in a shared physical environment with others and gain information from reading facial expressions and other visual cues.
Doc, your research is very interesting and sounds like it was fun to conduct. I think it’s telling that you were able to make such a strong correlation between visual learners and higher satisfaction in blended courses vs. traditional classroom settings. As I read through your presentation, though, I was wondering what you found out about verbal learners? Were they just as satisfied, or less so, as the verbal learners with blended courses?
I think learner preference is a very important piece of information to take into consideration when designing courses for students. In your implications for practice I see that you mentioned that accommodating different learning styles can be time consuming and difficult when establishing a platform for e-blended support. Do you think it’s feasible to refine and adjust each iteration of a course based on the learning preferences of the new students in the class? Or do you just design a course once (with tweaks here and there afterward) with various learner styles in mind and try to accommodate each style at once?
Thanks for the food for thought!
Hi Shannon, only the visual side of the visual-verbal dimension of learning styles was significant in my findings, so that is where I focused my attention. I have been using a limited, but varied amount of visual information in my online courses and its use is currently optional. So far, the unsolicited response has been highly favorable, but I plan to conduct a user experience study soon as part of an extended action research effort.
I think it is interesting that Felder-Solomon consider written text to be “verbal” learning. You mention this in your article, and I just wanted t agree–but I think visual vs. verbal should be more “seeing vs. hearing.” I consider myself a visual learner because I can’t remember anything unless I see it. If I just hear something, it goes in one in and out the other.
Anyway, my point in bringing this up is that my experience in online learning has not been more visual in the sense of having a greater number of images, charts, etc. (Although, I can see how it would potentially be easier to include this type of visual media in an online course than a classroom course.) My experience in online courses is that there is simply a lot more writte text rather than oral lecture. So for someone like me (who remembers what I read but not what I hear), the text-based version of a class is very effective. However, if I was a visual learner who needed graphs and chart and pictoral descriptors to aid my understanding, I don’t believe that an online setting would actually change anything.
So this brings up a question–did you use a lot of visual aids in the e-blended section? If not, does that imply Felder and Solomon should rethink their definition of verbal learning?
Just as a side note, having taught school for four years, I can definitely verify the reality of different learning styles and the connection between the success of a student when their specific learning style is addressed. As a math teacher, I tried to vary my instruction as much as possible (pictures, stories, hands-on activities) in order to reach as many different learners as possible.