Educational Experience and Changes in Learning and Value Preferences

Abstract

Education attempts to instill certain values, as well as knowledge and skills, in students. Yet, examination of value changes is infrequent, and the findings of existing studies are equivocal. This article reports on a study of value and learning preference changes in occupational therapy students. Two small groups of undergraduate and graduate students completed the Rokeach Value Survey, the Learning Preference Inventory, and an educational values inventory (developed by the first two authors) at the beginning of their professional education and again while on affiliation. Four other groups completed the instruments once: undergraduate and graduate students in the first semester of the professional program, and undergraduate and graduate students in the second semester. For the students who participated in the study twice, undergraduates were more likely than graduates to rearrange their value priorities, and changes were more likely to occur with educational values than Rokeach values. However, although individuals may have changed substantially, when subjects were treated as a group changes tended to be masked. Comparisons of first semester, second semester, and affiliating undergraduates and graduates revealed few differences among groups, although again, educational values differed more than Rokeach values. Because the study seems to suggest that individuals are affected in varying ways by their education, a major implication is that a methodology for examining the impact of professional education must account for initial differences in students.