CCE Faculty Articles
An investigation of the effect of learning style on student success in an online learning environment
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Educational Technology Systems
ISSN
0047-2395
Publication Date
1-1-2000
Abstract
Ninety-eight information science students were tracked during an online masters degree program. At their initial orientation, each student completed a demographic data form and the Kolb Learning Style Inventory. Because of their major, it was hypothesized that students would fall into Kolb s Converger and Assimilator categories and these learning styles would be predictive of success in the program. Results indicated that 79.6 percent (n = 78) of all students graduated from the program. Seventy-three students (74.5%) fell into the predicted categories and maintained an 83.6 percent (n = 61) graduation rate. Students not falling into the predicted categories maintained a 68 percent (n = 17) graduation rate. The implications are clear. First, the majority of students can succeed in an online learning environment regardless of their learning style. Care has to be taken, however, since a trend existed in this study for students with learning styles different from predicted to drop out in higher numbers. Institutions offering online programs should be aware of this and be prepared to address learning style issues.
DOI
10.2190/R53M-BVBD-UGV5-77EH
Volume
28
Issue
3
First Page
231
Last Page
238
NSUWorks Citation
Terrell, Steven R. and Dringus, Laurie P., "An investigation of the effect of learning style on student success in an online learning environment" (2000). CCE Faculty Articles. 150.
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_facarticles/150