Learning Styles of On-Campus and Off-Campus Marketing Students: The Challenge for Marketing Educators

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Using the Solomon-Felder Learning Styles Index, the authors examine how learning styles of marketing students differ across on-campus and off-campus teaching modes, as well as across various sociodemographic variables. In addition, they identify learning segments for each teaching mode using cluster analysis. This enables more accurate targeting of teaching styles to the learning needs of each of the main student segments. Three student segments are identified in each sample. While some similarities between segments exist across teaching modes, distinct differences are found implying a need to tailor teaching strategies differently for on-campus and off-campus students. The relationship between student preferences for teaching techniques and learning styles is also examined. The teaching preferences of many off-campus students is suggestive of incongruence in the teaching approach of typical off-campus courses and indicates a need to develop innovative approaches to teaching students using this mode of study.