Multimodal Learning Preferences Research Articles

Learning Styles of Undergraduate Medical Students and their Relation with Preferred Teaching-Learning Methods

This descriptive type of cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the learning styles of undergraduate medical students and their relation with preferred teaching-learning Methods. The study period was from July 2017 to June 2018. The study was carried out among the students of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th phases of the MBBS course at three government and four nongovernment medical colleges in Bangladesh. Out of seven medical colleges, four were within Dhaka and three outside Dhaka. The sample size was 1004. Medical colleges were selected purposively, and a convenience sampling technique was adopted for data collection. Bangla translated version of Fleming's VARK (visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic) questionnaire was used to identify the learning styles of students. Linear regression was used to compare the VARK learning styles scores with teaching-learning Methods. The study revealed that out of 1004 medical students 64.2% preferred multimodal learning styles, and the rest, 35.8% preferred unimodal learning styles. Among unimodal learning preferences, auditory (A) and kinesthetic (K) were the most preferred sensory modalities of learning. The most preferred teaching Methods among the students were bedside teaching (29.9%), followed by tutorials (25.9%), and practical sessions (20.6%). The most preferred learning method among the students was mixed Methods (60.3%). A positive correlation was present between VARK modes and teaching-learning Methods (P <0.05). Majority of students preferred multimodal learning styles. Students are able to learn effectively as long as the teacher provides a blend of visual, auditory, read/writing, and kinesthetic activities. The study recommended that teachers be aware of the medical students' learning styles and that aligning teaching-learning Methods with learning styles will improve their learning and academic performance.
 TAJ 2022; 35: No-2: 19-26

A Survey on Learning Styles of Undergraduate Medical Students and its Associated Factors

Background: Global education curriculum is gradually shifting from teacher centric to learner centric approaches. Each of the learners is different in his/her preference of the style of learning. Aims: The present study aims to decipher the learning styles of learners of 1st year MBBS students studying in Pt. JNM Medical College, Raipur, and also to find its association with gender and past academic achievement. Patients and Methods: The present cross sectional descriptive study was conducted by self administered visual aural read kinaesthetic (VARK) questionnaire version 8.01. Test of association was done to illicit any significant difference between learning style preferences with gender or percentage in Class 12th. Results: Amongst 188, 184 students participated in the study, and thus, response rate was 97.9%. Amongst these participants, 41.3% were females and mean Class 12th percentage was 85.4 ± 8.66. Seventy one percent of the subjects were found to have multimodal learning preferences whereas 29% were unimodal learners. Kinaesthetic components were maximum whereas read/write learning components were minimum. The frequency of learners was maximum for K (Kinaesthetic) followed by VARK (Visual Aural Read Kinaesthetic) and AK (Aural Kinaesthetic) type of learners. There was no significant association between type of learners with gender or academic performance in Class 12th with P > 0.05 by non parametric Mann–Whitney U-test. Conclusion: Most of the learners had kinaesthetic components, and thus, teaching–learning methods should be accordingly adapted to suit the learning styles of the subjects.

Teaching and learning considerations during the COVID-19 pandemic: Supporting multimodal student learning preferences

Background. The advent of COVID‐19 and the subsequent national lockdown has catapulted higher education institutions into emergency remote teaching (ERT). A principal challenge in this shift is the ability to stimulate student interest towards engagement with, and retention of, course content. The creation of teaching and learning (T&L) resources and activities using a combination of the visual, aural, read/write and kinaesthetic (VARK) modes is fundamental in ensuring student engagement. Objectives. To determine the learning style profiles of undergraduate students and to explore how student learning profiles may be incorporated in T&L approaches during ERT. Methods. This descriptive study profiles the learning preferences of undergraduate students in a health science faculty using the VARK questionnaire. The study further outlines modifications in T&L implemented to support the varied learning preferences during the COVID‐19 ERT response. Results. Our findings demonstrate that the majority of our students have a multimodal learning preference, with the kinaesthetic modality being the most preferred. Voice‐over PowerPoint presentations with transitioning images, and audio files, supported the visual and aural learners through asynchronous engagement. Additionally, online discussion forums and applied projects (such as theme park designs) enhanced asynchronous learning by stimulating the visual, read/write and kinaesthetic preferences, respectively. Microsoft Team sessions with PowerPoint presentations supported visual and aural learning preferences through synchronous engagement. Conclusions. Rethinking traditional T&L approaches towards supporting the diverse student learning preferences is critical in student‐centred T&L amidst the many challenges that ERT has precipitated. Academics need to be dynamic in their T&L approaches and intuitive in their awareness of how subject content may be modified/enhanced in the ERT environment.

A study of the different learning styles of the present first professional MBBS students at United Institute of Medical Sciences, United Medicity, Prayagraj, India

Background: The study is designed to evaluate the different learning styles of the present first professional MBBS students. Students were requested to complete the visual-aural-read/write-kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire at VARK-LEARN.COM. Results of the questionnaire were collected by email and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. We found that 68.2% had multimodal learning preferences and 31.7% had single learning preference. Aims and Objectives: The objective of this study is to analyze the different learning styles of MBBS 1st year students of United Institute of Medical Sciences, Prayagraj, using the VARK questionnaire. Materials and Methods: This study includes the informed consent taken from each student before participating. The Institutional Ethics Committee approved the study. Copyright permission was taken from the website vark-learn.com, from VARK Learn Limited, New Zealand. One hundred and two students had consented, and out of them, 85 students participated in the study. The students were asked to complete the questionnaire on the website. The data on their learning styles were collected and analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Results: Out of 85 Students, 58 (68.2%) had multimodal learning preferences. Of these, 28.2% of students had four-part VARK or quadrimodal preferences, 28.2% of students had bimodal, and 11.7% had trimodal learning preferences. Twenty-seven (31.7%) had single learning preferences, and, out of these 27 students, 17 (20%) had kinesthetic, 6 (7.05%) had visual learning preferences, and 4 (4.7%) students had aural learning preferences. Conclusion: With the help of this study, we concluded that most of the students who participated in our study are multimodal learners, and out of the students who had a single learning preference, most had kinesthetic learning preferences.

Student Profiling as a Tool for Inclusive Instructional Design: A Case of a 3rd Year Biotechnology Class, University of Namibia

Massification of Higher Education (HE) has made it difficult for teachers to design instructional strategies that are responsive to the diverse student needs. We here argue that student profiling is a handy tool that the HE teacher can use for inclusive instructional design by thoughtfully selecting learning and teaching strategies, and materials and supports that will maximise student achievement. We designed a student-profiling instrument focusing on capturing students’ biographical information, learning preferences, anticipated learning outcomes, personality traits, and learning related skills-set and administered to students in a 3rd Year Biotechnology class at the University of Namibia. The data on learning style preferences was analysed using the VARK Questionnaire (version 8.01) while a Chi-square (?2) test of association (SPSS software version 24) was used to determine whether there was a relationship between students’ preferred learning styles and the other variables. Seventy-five percent (75%) of the students had multimodal learning preferences while 25% were unimodal for kinesthetic learning style. No students preferred visual or auditory learning alone. The ?2 test revealed no significant relationship between students’ preferred learning styles and any of the other variables including age, place of origin, home language, home setting, residence during school semester, pre-course anticipation, skills set, and personality traits (P > 0.05). We conclude that profiling students’ learning preferences prior to teaching and learning helps HE teachers to tailor their instructional strategies to students’ learning style preferences, maximises epistemological access, as well as enhance inclusivity, equality and equity.

Breaking Boundaries: Effectiveness of Gamification and Student Co‐Creation for Anatomy Remote Learning

Introduction An international reform on anatomy education has witnessed a transition from traditional cadaveric teaching, often reliant on rote-learning, toward visualization-based learning approaches. Multimodality of the learning preferences of Generation Z and the steep threshold learning curve in anatomy has led to the conception of gamification as a means of improving anatomy engagement, with reference to the Ebbinghaus (1880) forgetting curve. The aim of this study was to quantify student engagement using Quitch®, a gamified mobile learning platform and assess the impact of the app on student academic performance in an undergraduate Musculoskeletal Anatomy unit. Method 157 students enrolled in undergraduate Health and Science degrees at Swinburne University Australia were invited to download Quitch® during the COVID-19 remote learning period. In a student-faculty partnership project, a Quitch® unit with learning modules segregated for six regional anatomy topics, featuring 12 sections, was developed for Musculoskeletal Anatomy by 3rd year past students. Engagement was quantified using a 4-stage ordinal scale (1-4), based on access time from quiz release. The correlation between engagement, retention and academic performance for two virtual ‘spotter’ examinations was analysed. Results Preliminary results indicate that ‘highly engaged’ students who completed the quizzes within 14 days, quantified with a mode ordinal score of 1, scored an average grade of 67.05±0.18% on virtual spotter examinations; 21.37% higher than those who did not engage with Quitch®. Students who did not attempt the majority of quizzes (63.92%), quantified with an ordinal score of 4, received an average of 45.68±0.22% in their examinations. Completion and accuracy data from the Quitch® leaderboard indicated that the top 20 users received an average grade of 77.50%, in comparison to 49.86% for students with low engagement. Student retention increased from 88.7% in 2019 to 96.7% in 2020; while 79% of students reported an ‘increased sense of belonging'in the unit. Conclusion Quitch® offers personalized learning capabilities, mobility with notification capacity, tracking of at-risk students and allows the delivery of high-quality case-based, radiology and virtual spotter questions. We showcase the accommodation of multimodal learning preferences of students through content co-creation by students-as-partners in a platform that uses competitive leaderboards and badges to improve student engagement. Our analytics validate the efficacy of spaced repetition to consolidate long-term retention for improved performance in practical examinations. Implications The results on the efficacy of Quitch for improved student engagement in Anatomy is presented, demonstrating how student-centred virtual learning can be cultivated in remote learning, with the benefits of students-as-partners and the social constructivism theory in content design discussed as an approach to improve engagement and performance.

Learning style preference: Impact on academic performance of preclinical medical students, a Nigerian survey

Background: Understanding the differences in learning styles among medical students and their impact on the learning processes may enhance better learning and knowledge acquisition that is necessary for improving learning outcomes. This study aimed at the determination of the learning style preferences of the University of Nigeria preclinical medical students and the impact they have on their academic performance. Materials and Methods: The study involved 158 third-year medical students (102 males and 56 females). Each student completed the VARK questionnaire (Version 7) comprising 16 questions that identified four different learning style preferences, namely V – visual, A – aural, R – read–write, and K – kinesthetic. The academic performance of the students was obtained from the results of their second MBBS professional examination. Analysis of data was done using Statistical Package for the Social sciences (SPSS) version 21; the percentages and charts of distribution for each VARK component were determined. The presence/absence of significant interactions between academic performance and learning style preferences was determined using Chi-square test. Results: The results showed that 30.4% of the students were unimodal (V-2.5%, A-7%, R-17.1% and K-3.8%), while 69.6% were multimodal in learning. With respect to gender, the males (70.6%) and females (67.9%) preferred multimodal learning, and both genders showed similar patterns in their preferences (read–write, followed by aural, kinesthetic, and visual). Visual learners exhibited the highest scores among unimodal learners, followed by kinesthetic, aural, and read–write learners, although the mean performance of multimodal learners (65%) was higher than those of unimodal learners (54%) (P

How learning preferences and teaching styles influence effectiveness of surgical educators

BackgroundEffective surgical educators have specific attributes and learner-relationships. Our aim was to determine how intrinsic learning preferences and teaching styles affect surgical educator effectiveness. MethodsWe determined i) learning preferences ii) teaching styles and iii) self-assessment of teaching skills for all general surgery attendings. All general surgical residents in our program completed teaching evaluations of attendings. ResultsMultimodal was the most common learning preference (20/28). Although the multimodal learning preference appears to be associated with more effective educators than kinesthetic learning preferences, the difference was not statistically significant (80.0% versus 66.7%, p = 0.43). Attendings with Teaching Style 5 were more likely to have a lower “professional attitude towards residents” score on SETQ assessment by residents (OR 0.33 (0.11, 0.96), p = 0.04). Attendings rated their own “communication of goals” (p < 0.001), “evaluation of residents” (p = 0.04) and “overall teaching performance” (p = 0.01) per STEQ domains as significantly lower than the resident’s assessment of these cofactors. ConclusionIdentification of factors intrinsic to surgical educators with high effectiveness is important for faculty development. Completion of a teaching style self-assessment by attendings could improve effectiveness.

Does Learning Style Make a Difference on Student’s Academic Performance? Learning Style Preferences of Medical Students from University Tunku Abdul Rahman

Background: Learning preference is the effective and efficient modality or manner in which a learner has a natural preference to perceive process, store and recall new information. Learning style is the composite of cognitive, affective and physiological characteristics that indicate how a learner perceives, interacts and responds to the learning environment.&#x0D; Objectives: The objectives of the study were to assess the teaching and learning style preferences of medical students at UTAR by using VARK (Visual/Auditory/Reading/Kinesthetics) inventory questionnaires and to identify the different learning style preferences between gender and the academic year of medical education (pre-clinical year versus clinical year). &#x0D; Methodology: This was a university-based cross-sectional study involving 235 students from year 1 to year 5 in University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia from December 2017 to December 2018. Students, selected via universal sampling, were given the VARK inventory questionnaires determine their preferences of learning style. Data were further analysed using SPSS (version 22.0, IBM). &#x0D; Results: Of the 203 students (86.4%) who responded to the questionnaire, 62.1% of them were females while 80.3% of them were between 21-25 years of age. 86 students (42.4%) were from the preclinical phase while 117 (57.6%) were from the clinical phase. 70.4% of the students preferred studying alone to studying with a partner or group of friends (29.6%). Among them,157 medical students (77.3%) preferred multimodal learning style, with the most preferred mode trimodal which means combination of three sensory preference for example VAR or ARK, 35.67%, followed by quadrimodal which means combination of all four sensory preference for example VARK, 33.76% and bimodal which means combination of two sensory preference for example VA or AR, 30.57%. The remaining 46 students (22.7%) were unimodal learners (visual or auditory or reading or kinaesthetic) and 37% of them preferred kinesthetics which was learners prefer hands-on, practical experience. There was no significant difference in VARK modalities in terms of gender (p=0.39) and academic year (p=0.16). &#x0D; Conclusion: In conclusion, majority of UTAR medical students preferred multiple modalities with trimodal being the most prevalent mode. Among unimodal learners, kinesthetics were the most preferred mode. There was no significant difference in VARK modalities in terms of gender and academic year.

Learning Style Preferences Among Undergraduate Medical Students: An Experience from Different Medical Colleges of Bangladesh

This descriptive type of cross sectional study was conducted to determine the learning styles of undergraduate medical students. The study period was from July 2017 to June 2018. The study was carried out among the students of 2nd, 3rd and 4th phases of MBBS course of 3 government and 4 non-government medical colleges of Bangladesh. Out of 7 medical colleges, 4 were within Dhaka and 3 were from outside Dhaka. The sample size was 1004 students. Medical colleges were selected purposively and convenience sampling technique was adopted for data collection. Bangla translated version Fleming's VARK (visual, auditory, read/write and kinesthetic) questionnaire was used to identify the learning styles of students. The study revealed that out of 1004 medical students, 64.2% preferred multimodal learning styles and rest 35.8% preferred unimodal learning styles. Among unimodal learning preferences, auditory (A) and kinesthetic (K) were the most preferred sensory modalities of learning. Among multimodal learning styles preferences, the combination of auditory &amp; kinesthetic (AK) and auditory, read/write &amp; kinesthetic (ARK) were predominant. There were only significant differences of the mean scores of visual (V) learning style among the male and female students. Majority of students preferred multimodal learning styles. Students are able to learn effectively as long as the teacher provides a blend of visual, auditory, read/writing and kinesthetic activates. The study recommended that teachers should be aware of the medical students' learning styles and aligning teaching-learning methods with learning styles will improve their learning and academic performance.&#x0D; Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.10(2) 2019: 26-30

Lifelong Learning on the Go: English Language Mobile Learning in China

AbstractAs China is playing an active role in the World's politics, economy, and cultural circles, being able to communicate in English has become one of the basic life and work skills and a key for global access and integration. High mobile technology penetration, together with the proliferation of mobile learning applications, have made it possible for Chinese adult learners to learn English on the go. Mobile technology's core features including portability, instant power‐on, on‐demand, and the ability to accommodate multimodal learning styles and preferences are accounted for to describe mobile learning apps’ affordances for lifelong adult learners’ English learning. Four popular English language learning apps, are compared to illustrate how Chinese lifelong adult learners are learning English on the go.

Learning style predilection among health professional learners - A comparative study among varied course groups in a medical college

Background: The learning behavior of an individual is attributed to one’s learning style. With varied learning styles been evident, identification of the best learning modality is a must to upgrade the student’s knowledge. This study pertains to seven sensory modalities of learning such as visual, verbal, aural, physical, logical, social, and solitary. Aim and Objective: The aim of the study was to identification and comparison of learning style preferences among three categories of undergraduate health learners and gender differences in their learning styles. Materials and Methods: The study participants were 444 – 1st-year students of both the genders from Medicine, Physiotherapy, and Nursing course groups studying in ACS. The Medical College was included in the study. The Memletics questionnaire containing 70 questions was distributed and the students were encouraged to choose their best-preferred answer. Student identity, gender, and the course assigned were noted. Results: Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software version 23. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed Medicine, Physiotherapy and Nursing group of students preferred multimodal learning. Further analysis with multiple linear regression model to compare the learning modality between the three groups showed visual, social and solitary modalities of learning were the best preferred learning style in common among all the three groups of students. Both the gender groups preferred social modality of learning in common. One way ANOVA results showed a significant difference between male and female students with regard to visual (P = 0.023), verbal (P = 0.000), and logical (P = 0.002) modalities of learning. Conclusion: With multimodal learning behavior been evident, implementation of appropriate teaching modalities to cater the students need, as well, exposing them to newer learning modalities will strengthen the teaching-learning process, their academic performance, and educative outcome to make the individual a complete professional.

Does learning style preferences influence academic performance among dental students in Isfahan, Iran?

PurposeThe present study aimed to identify the learning preferences of dental students and to characterize their relationship with academic performance at a dental school in Isfahan, Iran.MethodsThis cross-sectional descriptive study included 200 undergraduate dental students from October to November 2016. Data were collected using a 2-part questionnaire. The first part included demographic data, and the second part was a Persian-language version of the visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted with the chi-square test, 1-way analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression.ResultsThe response rate was 86.6%. Approximately half of the students (51.5%) had multimodal learning preferences. Among the unimodal group (48.5%), the most common mode was aural (24.0%), followed by kinesthetic (15.5%), reading-writing (8.0%), and visual (1.0%). There was a significant association between academic performance and the reading/writing learning style preference (P< 0.01).ConclusionMultimodal learning styles were the most preferred. Among single-mode learning styles, the aural style was most common, followed by the kinesthetic style. Students with a reading/writing preference had better academic performance. The results of this study provide useful information for preparing a more problem-based curriculum with active learning strategies.

THE VARK LEARNING STYLE OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY STUDENTS

Introduction. VARK is very important to facilitate the development of nursing and midwifery students, helping translate theory into practice, and making what is learned in the classroom a reality. It is important to assess the learning style ofstudents to cater for differing learning needs. The aim of the study were: 1) to identify learning style nursing and midwifery students, and 2) the differences of learning style between nursing and midwifery students. Method. A descriptive crosssectional study was performed by using VARK questionnaire version 7.8. A total of 241 students including 125 nursing and 116 midwifery students were participated in this study that selected using stratifi ed random sampling techniques. Data analysis used Chi square test and One Way ANOVA (α=0.05). Result. The study showed that 61.7% and 67.8% nursing and midwifery students in the fi rst year; 70.8% and 63.3% in the second-year were used multimodal learning preferences, respectively. There was no signifi cantly differences learning preferences between the fi rst and the second-year as well as between nursing and midwifery students (p&gt;0.05). Discussion. The nursing and midwifery students have varies on the learning preferences however the majority of the students used multimodal. Therefore, an active learning method was recommended. Keywords: Learning style, Nursing and midwifery students, VARK

A Preference for Hands-on Learning: A Cross Sectional Study Assessing Dental Students' Preferred Style for Receiving Curricula

Background: Dentistry education requires a great deal of hands-on learning as well as content-based learning. Although each individual has a unique learning style, our group of educators sought to understand the predominant learning style preferences of a cohort of 84 dental students. The aim of this study was to investigate the learning style preferences of first, second and third year Saudi female dental students in the College of Dentistry. Materials and method: The research team invited all students at a large, allfemale university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to engage in a cross sectional study. This project assessed learning styles using the Visual, Aural, Read-write, and Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire. Results: A total of 84 female dental students (more than 3/4 of the entire dental college cohort) returned the completed the questionnaire. The majority (91.5%) were between the ages of 19-22 years old. Just over half of students (54.7%) preferred multimodal learning style preference, meaning that they had no specific strong preference for a single learning style. Of those who had a strong preference for a specific, Kinesthetic (learning by doing) was the most commonly chosen (20.2%). Conclusion: The majority of the female dental students in this cohort preferred a mixed learning method. For those who had a single, strong preference, learning by doing ranked highest. The results of this study can provide useful information for educators of the learning style preferences of students and facilitate student learning by developing appropriate teaching strategies. Relying less on demonstration and more on hands-on and mixed method teaching may be the most pleasurable and productive strategy for this cohort.

Learning preferences of medical students - a study conducted at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Background: Each student has a unique way of learning. These preferred learning approaches are believed to have an influence on student learning and academic performance. Identifying the learning preference of students is important as it would inform the teachers of the most suitable way of engaging students. Objectives: To determine the learning preference of medical undergraduates of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka and to identify whether there is a significant difference in the learning preference based on gender, academic seniority and academic performance. Methods: Six hundred medical undergraduates of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka were assessed using paper copies of the VARK questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS. Results: The response rate was 94%. The number of multi-modal learners (56.6%) was significantly higher than uni-modal learners (43.4%). All multi-modal learners were quad-modal learners and a majority had a high preference for VARK type 1 (switching from mode to mode depending on the context) learning style (35.4%). A significant proportion of uni-modal learners had a visual preference (28.9%) with few having auditory, read/write and kinaesthetic preferences. There was no significant difference between males and females in their learning preference. There was a trend towards becoming more multi-modal as they progress to senior years. A majority of second upper class achievers (61.5%), second lower class achievers (50.9%) and passed students (65.9%) showed a multi-modal learning preference. However, there was no significant difference in preference for uni-modal or multi-modal learning among first class holders. Conclusions: Most medical undergraduates of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka preferred multi-modal (quad-modal) and visual type of learning. There was no significant relationship between gender, academic seniority and learning preference. There was an apparent kinaesthetic preference among high achieving students with no auditory or read/write preference.

Relationship between Learning Style and Academic Status of Babol Dental Students.

IntroductionIdentifying and employing students’ learning styles could play an important role in selecting appropriate teaching methods in order to improve education. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the students’ final exam scores and the learning style preferences of dental students at Babol University of Medical Sciences.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted on 88 dental students studying in their fourth, fifth, and sixth years using the visual–aural–reading/writing–kinesthetic (VARK) learning styles’ questionnaire. The data were analyzed with IBM SPSS, version 21, using the chi-squared test and the t-test.ResultsOf the 88 participants who responded to the questionnaire, 87 preferred multimodal learning styles. There was no significant difference between the mean of the final exam scores in students who did and did not prefer the aural learning style (p = 0.86), the reading/writing learning style (p = 0.20), and the kinesthetic learning style (p = 0.32). In addition, there was no significant difference between the scores on the final clinical course among the students who had different preferences for learning style. However, there was a significant difference between the mean of the final exam scores in students with and without visual learning style preference (p = 0.03), with the former having higher mean scores. There was no significant relationship between preferred learning styles and gender (p > 0.05).ConclusionThe majority of dental students preferred multimodal learning styles, and there was a significant difference between the mean of the final exam scores for students with and without a preference for the visual learning style. In addition, there were no differences in the preferred learning styles between male and female students.

Experiential Learning, Spatial Visualization and Metacognition: An Exercise with the “Blank Page” Technique for Learning Anatomy

PurposeUndergraduate students in the allied health science disciplines are normally required to complete a human anatomy course in their first year. Such courses, while popular, present challenges in that the content requires students to engage different approaches to learning. Recent literature reflects an increased interest in active, experiential learning activities to improve the learning of anatomy and physiology, but activities that focus on the development of metacognitive skills and visual-spatial thinking have been lacking. To address these inadequacies we developed a plasticine modeling and drawing activity in a tutorial room devoid of resources and visual cues referred to as the “blank page” room. The purpose of this manuscript is to communicate the merits of this intervention as an instructional technique used to facilitate the learning of anatomy for undergraduates of allied health disciplines. MethodDuring anatomy laboratory sessions we randomly allocated student groups to the activity of plasticine modeling and drawing (blank page technique) or the completion of written review questions. We compared the grades achieved by students who had been exposed to the blank page intervention with the grades achieved by students who were given standard review questions. We also collected qualitative feedback in the form of questionnaires that required participating students to rate the learning efficacy of the activities. ResultsStudents performed slightly better on assessment quizzes after the blank page activity compared with the review questions. Student feedback indicated that the blank page activity had greater learning value and promoted stronger engagement in the learning tasks. DiscussionThe blank page activity has merit in student engagement and facilitation of the learning of anatomy by broadening the scope of instruction to encompass multimodal learning preferences, metacognition and visual spatial thinking.

Athletics training of the first- and fourth-semester engineering college students and their learning preferences

Background: Athletics training is given using personality models, information processing models, social interaction models, and instructional preference models. This study uses the visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic (VARK) inventory to gather information as per instructional preference model for assessing learning preferences among the first- and fourth-semester engineering students with reference to athletics training. Aim: This study is designed to evaluate and compare instructional learning style preferences of the first- and fourth-semester engineering students in India. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on the first- and fourth-semester engineering students with each group having 100 students each. VARK Inventory version 7.1 was administered to determine the preferred instructional mode based on four sensory modalities - VARK with reference to athletics training. Results: Eighty percent of the first-semester students had unimodal learning preferences out of which 11%, 49%, 5%, and 15% of students preferred VARK modes, respectively. In comparison, significantly higher percentage (51%) of the third-semester students had multimodal learning preferences. Their unimodal learning preference was 4% visual, 6% auditory, 5% read/write, and 14% kinesthetic modes. The first-semester students' auditory instructional style was the most preferred method, whereas the fourth-semester students preferred the kinesthetic mode. Conclusion: With the passage of time in the engineering course, students adapt to a multimodal method of instruction. It is therefore in the interest of students to strengthen, encourage, and adopt a multimodal approach to physical training rather than resorting to conservative unimodal approach.

Which mode of learning do dental students prefer? A cross-sectional study in Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Aim: This study was conducted to determine the learning preferences of dental students and to compare it between preclinical and clinical dental students in Chennai. Introduction: Educators of health-care profession are responsible for the quality of future health-care providers, but they may face a greater challenge in transmission of their knowledge to the students. This study was conducted to match the teaching and learning methods to make the learning easier. Materials and Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2016 among 310 dental students in Chennai to determine their preferences of learning styles using Visual, Aural, Read-write, and Kinesthetic questionnaire. Results: Majority of the students (86%) preferred multimodal learning style. Auditory and kinesthetic methods were most preferred unimodal learning style among preclinical and clinical students, respectively. Auditory and kinesthetic methods were dominant even in bimodal and trimodal preference of learning style. Conclusion: As the majority of the dental students preferred multimodal learning style, a variety of teaching methods should be included in the curriculum according to the students' preferences.