Search results

The purpose of this study is to examine learning style instruments used in Arab countries to measure higher education students’ learning styles, identify the most common instruments and determine whether the reliability and validity of these instruments have been verified in Arab contexts.

A comprehensive review of the existing literature using several databases and search engines. Descriptive statistics, such as frequencies and percentages were used to present the results.

There are only a few published studies related to learning styles in Arab countries, with the majority published between 2012 and 2016 using samples drawn from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq. The most common learning style instrument is the Felder–Silverman/Solomon Index of Learning Styles. The reliability and validity of this instrument require further investigation.

This study is not without limitations. First, it covers only publications in the English language. Second, the paper focuses on research involving higher education students. Third, only research that was available online was used in this study. Nonetheless, the findings have several implications for researchers, educators and human resource development managers. For researchers, this study highlights research gaps that need to be filled. It also serves as a basis for more analytical and in-depth studies. The data also helps educators become more informed about the learning style instruments commonly used in the Arab context and whether the results from these instruments are dependable. Human resource development managers can draw on these findings to choose instruments that have proven reliable and valid.

This study is the first attempt to examine learning style instruments used in Arab countries and to explore whether the reliability and validity of these instruments have been verified in Arab contexts. This paper is a useful contribution to research into learning styles and learning style instruments.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use, construct, and pervasiveness of learning styles theory. Whilst extant literature has provided educational theorists with a temporal landscape for promoting or critiquing the surfeit of “models” and “diagnostic tools”, there has been little empirical research evidence undertaken on the adoption and adaptation of learning styles in the e-Learning environment, especially in respect of personalised learning environments (PLEs). In this respect, evidence identifies that the more thoroughly instructors understand the differences in learning styles, the better chance they have of meeting the diverse learning needs of their learners.

The paper provides a critical review of the development of learning styles inventories and instruments of learning styles. It focuses specifically on the reliability, validity, and rubrics behind these models. A positivist stance was adopted, using a structured case study methodology with learners as the main unit of analysis. This was undertaken to statistically explore and confirm the validity and reliability of a Diagnostic Questionnaire (DQ).

A new Diagnostic Learning Styles Questionnaire was developed based upon the amalgamation of three existing models of learning styles (Kolb; Honey and Mumford; and Felder and Silverman). Research findings identified four principal learning styles categories (A, B, C, D). These are supported by Cronbach's α results ranging from 0.57 to 0.80 for the learning styles within the DQ, which provides new insight into these relationships.

This research suggests that improved construct validity can be achieved if relationships are fully understood. However, research findings need to be countered by extending the embedded case study presented in this paper to include other case studies for comparison (within this context). Further research is also needed on examining learner traits in more detail with a wider data set.

The DQ can be used to explore different approaches to use in learning environments. Specifically, it allows training providers to understand the nuances and dependencies associated with learner styles, behaviour, learner effectiveness, and motivation.

This paper uncovers new understanding on the learning process and how this links to pedagogy and learning styles. It presents a mechanism for embedding a DQ into a PLEs.

The purpose of this paper is to inform international student study strategies as well as course design and instructional approach.

Multiple research methods are applied, starting with exploratory data analysis, principal component analysis, confirmatory ordinal factor analysis, then recursive regression.

The meta‐cognitive impacts of international learning styles on academic performance over two courses are proven.

The learning styles of multicultural university students are assessed using an online a priori instrument to determine predictive impact on academic performance across different courses.

The implications of the dendrogram models are briefly explained with respect to student counselling, student study strategies and teaching approaches. The findings are discussed with respect to rival learning style theories and to appease criticisms of meta‐analysis reviews.

Several statistically significant models were created including varimax and promax rotation solutions from ordinal factor analysis, as well as item response and latent factor dendrograms from recursive regression.

This study aims to examine the reliability and validity of the learning style construct conceptualized by Honey and Mumford (1986) in educational settings in the United Arab Emirates.

Two independent samples from the UAE were used: one comprised 1,463 undergraduate students at the UAE University, and the other comprised 152 undergraduate students at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah. The data were analyzed using Cronbach’s alpha, inter-correlations and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Measured by alpha coefficients, the outcomes suggest that the learning styles questionnaire (LSQ) had moderate internal consistency in both samples. The inter-correlations reveal positive (weak to modest) correlations among the four learning styles for both samples, implying a lack of support for the two bipolar dimensions proposed by Kolb. CFA failed to support the four learning styles described by Honey and Mumford.

This study used only two samples to test the reliability and validity of the instrument. Second, other statistical tools (e.g. test-retest, item analysis) usually used to determine the reliability and validity of instruments were not used. Furthermore, the study was conducted over a short period; nonetheless, it has various implications for researchers, educators and managers.

This investigation represents the first attempt to assess the LSQ’s reliability and validity in educational settings in the UAE. The findings contribute to the study of learning styles and instruments testing.

Too little attention has been paid to the central process — learning — necessary for managerial skills to be developed. The article describes the techniques and processes used by the few people who give explicit attention to helping managers to improve their learning skills. It describes blockages to learning, and then uses descriptions of how these can be tackled through learning biography or through instruments such as the Learning Styles Inventory (Kolb) or the Learning Styles Questionnaire (Honey and Mumford).

It is proposed that both trainers and learners have individual styles, and sometimes institutions also have a preferred teaching style. The potential uses of identified learning styles in groups are described. Diagnostic instruments available in North America – Kolb, Myers Briggs, Guglielmino, Jacobs‐Fuhrman – are reviewed.

This paper aims to highlight some learning and teaching challenges in relation to universities and colleges in the Gulf region, including students' learning preferences, and cultural aspects. It explores the sequential‐global learning styles profile of undergraduate students as part of a continuous research in Information Systems Design with a particular focus on the design of Interactive Learning Systems (ILS).

The paper examines the learning style profile of undergraduate students for a cohort of Management Information Systems at a regional university in the UAE. It uses the Index of learning styles instrument as a tool for measuring the sequential‐global learning styles dimension. Also, the paper conducts a literature review of different aspects related to current challenges facing undergraduate students in the Gulf region as well as design principles related to the interactivity of learning systems.

The results show overall equal tendency towards both the sequential and global styles, different from a previous paper conducted in UK university. The paper highlights some students' differences that should be catered for in ILS design.

The paper is expected to provide further insights into some of the challenges facing many students doing their undergraduate degrees as well as the importance of a carefully balanced design of ILS (balance and bend model) to cater for students' different preferences and needs. A discussion and recommendations on how these findings can be reflected on the design of ILS are provided.

Entrepreneurship is a process of learning. The entrepreneurial learning process incorporates a cumulative series of multifaceted entrepreneurial experiences, which generally involve the development of new insights and behaviours. This study aimed to determine whether entrepreneurial experience has an influence on the preferred learning styles of students. The study also investigated the appropriateness of the Reduced Kolb Learning Style Inventory as a measuring instrument.

The study was conducted on 586 male and 690 female students from South Africa (n = 1042) and Norway (n = 244). The Reduced Kolb Learning Style Inventory, making use of principal correspondence analysis, was used to determine the preferred learning styles, while the students' level of entrepreneurial experience was captured by items addressing prior entrepreneurial experience.

The analysis revealed a simpler measure of students' preferred learning styles, comprising a total of 12 items with three items per learning style. The study revealed that the preferred learning style was more important for students who had entrepreneurial experience than for those with less entrepreneurial experience. If students with entrepreneurial experience have stronger concerns for how they learn, it contributes to the understanding of the content of entrepreneurial learning.

A modified Reduced Kolb Learning Style Inventory resulted in a concise instrument measuring students' preferred learning style in adherence to Kolb's work and evidenced its usefulness. This study contributes to a field that has been under-researched, related to the association between students' past and current entrepreneurial experience and their learning style preference, and aims to bridge the two research fields. This research explores these links and points to how these insights could inform entrepreneurship education.

The Experiential Learning Model of Kolb, Rubin and McIntyre (1984) and the Learning Style Inventory (LSI) developed by Kolb is discussed in relation to accountants. The theory and the Inventory are examined, and various criticisms of the LSI are presented. Research using the LSI to identify the preferred learning styles of accountants and accounting students is discussed, and compared with the author′s own research in one of the “Big Eight” firms. The difficulties in applying Kolb′s work are outlined, and some suggestions made about the usefulness for accounting educators of learning style theory in the design and presentation of continuing education courses.

The paper aims to present and discuss research findings on the relationship between culture and learning styles, as defined by Honey and Mumford, and the potential implications for both hospitality management education as well as for the training and career development of international hospitality managers.

Primary research was undertaken at an institute of hospitality management in Switzerland to investigate whether a relationship between culture and learning style preference would be found. The research, carried out with a paired sample of hospitality management students (n=55) at a one‐and‐a‐half‐year interval, was quantitative in nature.

The data support a link between culture and preferred learning style at the outset of the students' higher education programme, which seems to become less marked over time showing a certain convergence amongst all the students in their preferred learning styles.

At this stage in the research the results are only available for one paired sample. From 2007 onwards, however, it is planned that bi‐annual sets of paired sample results will be available for several years to come.

As management and career development take on increasing importance, on the job educators need to look not only to industry for guidance but also to educational institutions for advice on how to optimise their courses and the attainment of learning outcomes by their employees.

These findings have relevance for both hospitality educators as well as industry looking at how to best develop international managers at both junior as well as senior levels.