Investigation on Learning Styles of Older Adult Learners at Distance

Abstract

In Taiwan, in response to the continuous increase in the educational demands of older people and national plans promoting lifelong education, more endeavors are needed, which focus on the aging population, specifically from the perspective of education. For these reasons, this study was developed to understand learning styles of NOUT older adult learners at least 65 years old using Kolb's Learning Style Inventory. The findings show that there was heterogeneity in learning style. Although the subjects with the assimilator learning style contributed to the largest group in this study, meaning 41.7% of older adult learners at NOUT participating in the study preferred to learn through the process of reflective observation and abstract conceptualization, there were still a great proportion of subjects distributing into the other three different learning style groups necessary to be considered while facilitating their learning. In addition, the analysis revealed no significant relationship between the variable of learning style (four types of learning styles) and personal factors, such as gender, educational background, and retirement condition. In conclusion, this study have raised the level of awareness of individual learning styles of older distance learners in Taiwan and established a knowledge base for the development of educational gerontology in the context of distance education in Taiwan.