Abstract
Objective – The objective of the study is to identify whether learning styles impact academic performance and online and face-to-face assessment activities in Distance Education. Design/methodology/approach – Learning styles were mapped using the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) of Felder and Soloman (1991). For data analysis, generalized linear models methodology was adopted; the Wald test was used to evaluate the effect of the factors. Theoretical foundation - This research is based on cognitive theory. The model of Felder and Silverman (1988) underlies the ILS of Felder and Soloman (1991), which classifies learning styles into four dimensions: Active / Reflective; Sensory / Intuitive; Visual / Verbal; Sequential / Global. Findings – (i) The predominant profile of the sample consists of the following styles: active, sensory, verbal and sequential; (ii) learning styles impacted academic performance only in the Active / Reflective dimension; (iii) significant differences were found between the mean of online and face-to-face assessment activities only in the Sensory / Intuitive dimension; (iv) the means of online assessment activities are larger in every styles dimensions. Practical implications – Contributions for: (i) professors, as to how to choose and shape teaching strategies, i.e, to adopt teaching techniques that are appropriate to students’ characteristics; (ii) for students, knowing their learning style is important to understand and develop new learning strategies; (iii) educational managers, who can use knowledge about learning styles to structure the LMS with better use of resources and promoting student learning.
Highlights
Certain papers investigate the validation of learning style inventories (Kuri, 2004; Litzinger, Lee, Wise & Felder, 2005; Felder, 2010), others assess whether learning styles impact academic performance and their contributions to improving the teaching and learning processes (Belhot, 1997; Diniz, 2007; Silva & Oliveira Neto, 2010) and other relate learning styles to methodologies or teaching techniques (Miranda, Miranda & Mariano, 2007; Neves Junior & Rocha, 2010)
The objective of this study is to identify whether learning styles impact academic performance in online and face-to-face assessment activities in Distance Education
Felder (2010) points out that, the validity of Index of Learning Styles (ILS) is challenged in Psychology literature, the most common learning styles inventories have often been used frequently and successfully to help professors teach effectively, to help students to understand their own learning processes, and to help both to realize that people are not identical and that differences should be celebrated
Summary
Learning styles have been studied for decades by scholars from several fields of knowledge, such as Education, Psychology, Engineering and Accounting, who applied instruments to characterize the students of classroom and distance courses (Felder & Silverman, 1988; Kuri, 2004; Terrell & Dringus, 2000; Olds, Spindle & Cereola, 2007). Technology is, a further component of the educational process, alongside curricular structures, methodologies, assessments etc In this context, this study intends to contribute to discussions involving learning styles in Distance Education, focusing on assessment activities, both online and face-to-face. To this end, we mapped the learning styles of students from three specialization courses in the field of Public Administration, offered at a distance, in a federal and public university in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, using the tool developed by Felder and Soloman (1991). We present the literature review, followed by the methodological aspects and the results, concluding with our final considerations about the discussed topic
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