Relationships Between Students’ Learning Styles and Their Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Different Instructional Formats and Media

Cleora J. D’Arcy and Darin M. Eastburn
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
USA

Introduction

Students in our undergraduate general education course, Plant Pathology 200 (PLPA 200) “Plants, Pathogens, and People”, come from a variety of non-science and science majors. To address students’ diversity in learning styles, we present material using multiple instructional formats and types of media. The goal of this research project is to determine if students of all learning styles are provided adequate opportunities to master the subject material. 

Materials and Methods

For four semesters, students in PLPA 200 completed a learning style inventory and a survey on preferred formats and media for learning.

The Gregorc Style Delineator (www.gregorc.com) uses two scales that measure how students perceive information (concrete → abstract) and how they organize it (sequential → random) to define four learning styles: abstract-random (AR), abstract-sequential (AS), concrete-random (CR), and concrete-sequential (CS).

A survey of the effectiveness of nineteen formats and media used for instruction in PLPA 200 was conducted (see table in Results). The rating scale was from 1 = totally ineffective to 5 = highly effective. For the frequency analyses, ratings of 1+2 = ineffective, 3 = neutral, and 4+5 = effective. A format or medium was classified as effective when ≥ 2/3 of the participants in a learning style group rated it effective (4 or 5).

Focus groups of 3-7 students were conducted by graduate assistants to provide insight into the quantitative results.

Results

Over four semesters the preferred learning styles of 215 students were 65 AR, 70 AS, 82 CR, and 131 CS.

Frequency Analysis (Table 1.)

1. Fourteen formats/media were effective for at least one learning style group in at least one semester: lecture, handouts, chalkboard notes, overheads, PowerPoint slides, color slides, videotapes, class discussion, I-Clicker, review grids, outside class writing, PPP web site images, on-line quizzes, PowerPoint notes.
   
   
2. Eight formats/media were effective for each of the four learning style groups in at least one semester: lecture, chalkboard notes, overheads, PowerPoint slides, I-Clicker, review grids, on-line quizzes, PowerPoint notes.
   
   
3. Only one instructional tool, the textbook, was rated ineffective (one semester by AR and one by CR).

Table 1. Number of semesters/total semesters tested that a format/medium was preferred by each learning style group.

* personal response device
** Plants, Pathogens, and People web site: www.ppp.uiuc.edu

Selected Focus Group Findings

1. Student comments focused on formats/media perceived as useful for most learning styles. 
2. Use of PowerPoint slides and availability of on-line notes made lectures seem more organized and helped students focus attention on lecture presentations. The abundance of images appealed to visual learners.
3. Use of review grids helped students to organize information better and to “bring it all together”.
4. Weekly online quizzes encouraged students to study regularly and to stay current with the course material.
5. I-Clickers were a “fun” way to encourage class participation and to allow students to check their understanding in an anonymous, non-threatening fashion, and helped instructors evaluate student comprehension during lecture.

Conclusion

Use of a variety of instructional formats and media can provide students with different learning styles the opportunity to master a subject. Some formats and media are effective learning tools for students in more than one learning style group. Instructors can change their use of various instructional tools in order to maximize learning by their students.

Date: 15th May, 2006 email: cdarcy@uiuc.edu

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