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Individuals learn in different ways, using several learning styles, but lecturers may not always present information and learning experiences that match students’ learning preferences. Mismatches between learning and teaching styles can lead to disappointment with the course of study, personal discouragement and underperformance. The learning styles of 735 undergraduate Accounting students and the teaching styles of 46 lecturers from one United Kingdom and one South African university were empirically surveyed, using the Felder‐Solomon Index of Learning Styles questionnaire to consider the students’ learning styles, and an adaptation of the questionnaire to analyse the lecturers’ teaching styles. The study compared learning and teaching styles between two universities in two different countries and then examined possible matches/mismatches between learning and teaching styles. Little mismatch was found (p‐values smaller than 0.3). Other results are discussed and recommendations are made in relation to understanding and meeting students’ learning needs and the needs of professional bodies.

The potential value of student learning research to applied fields cannot be overstated. Research needs to inform educationalists on how students learn with a view to improving teaching/learning systems. This brief review examines the work of major contributors such as Biggs, Marton, Schmeck, Entwistle and in particular Pask, who have looked at both the immediate orientations of learning strategies and at the more permanent phenomena of approaches and learning styles. The author has focused on the early work of these researchers to illustrate the foundation stone on which the research area has been built. Methodology will be examined and the degree to which a balance has been achieved between the conflicting demands of scientific rigour and ecological validity. It is argued that the subtle distinctions and insights drawn within both short term strategies and long term orientations to study were most usefully identified by Gordon Pask.

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.

This paper aims to introduce the concepts and key issues surrounding the development of personalised learning environments.

This is a distillation of core research material gathered from a detailed literature review covering the concepts and issues surrounding the development of personalised learning environments (PLE).

This paper finds that most e‐learning applications are rather static and represent a generic approach to tutoring. Therefore, by default, they do not fully embrace learners' needs (i.e. learning styles). This paper also highlights key issues of incorporating learning styles into a PLE; and, has identified a “roadmap” for shaping and identifying the rubrics for further work in this field.

This paper is a very useful source in developing a PLE incorporating learning styles for learners.

A series of seven empirical studies conducted in Sheffield lend support to the notion that learners do spontaneously display styles of information processing behaviour originally identified by Pask and Scott, that even versatile postgraduate students are susceptible to the effects of matching and mismatching of teaching and learning styles, and that the arena in which these learning styles may be observed extends beyond learning to information seeking activity including database searching. Much research is still to be done to resolve the enigma of learning styles. However, arguably Pask’s time has come in the sense that current computing software and educational infrastructure now allow with relative ease the testing of the potential of Pask’s constructs using large samples of students, and the realisation of this potential in the development and delivery of mainstream teaching and learning resources.

The purpose of this paper is to present, try out, and evaluate a strategy for implementation of learning and teaching styles at the teacher level.

The study takes a qualitative approach to evaluating the short‐term and long‐term effects of a workshop on teaching and learning styles with regard to changing teachers' implicit beliefs and teaching practice.

Fourteen months after a two‐day workshop on learning and teaching styles, teachers' implicit beliefs about learning and teaching remain explicit and their teaching practice has changed towards a higher degree of differentiation as a result of the workshop.

The paper demonstrates that it is possible to change experienced teachers' teaching practice to a higher degree of differentiation with a two‐day workshop.

The paper provides knowledge on how to change in‐service teachers' implicit beliefs and how to affect their teaching practice to making use of of learning and teaching styles in their teaching practice.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of learning styles in developing learning in a higher education context.

The paper employs a case study of a year one introductory module for first‐year university students in a post‐1992 university.

It is suggested that learning styles in association with concepts of engagement and identity may be usefully and successfully employed in supporting, guiding and developing student learning. The importance of contextual factors is a factor that will influence learning strategies.

The paper is critical of other uses of learning styles and makes suggestions to develop and broaden the role of learning styles.

This study investigates whether matching teaching approach with student preferred learning style is importantat the undergraduate level. The results suggest that there is a significant association between three areas (1) traditional in‐class and self‐paced teaching approaches,(2) individuals’ preferred learning styles defined as nstructor‐dependent and independent study, and (3)computer skills proficiency. It appears that students who worked independently developed tools necessary to achieve the same level of skill mastery as students who relied on in‐class instruction and instructor assistance, and there was no significant difference between the two groups in the amount of time spent in completing assignments.The results support the idea that students are likely to learn best, in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, when the teaching method most compatible with each student’s choice of learning style is used.

The purpose of this paper is the investigation of Chinese students' learning styles through managed learning environments. Despite the diversity of cultures in the world and the implications of it within the teaching strategies and learning styles, knowledge transfer across cultures has been one of the most challenging tasks for the academic institutions.

The paper discusses a case study of Asian undergraduate students in terms of their learning styles and the on‐line delivery of courses from western academics. A review of relevant research is presented and certain issues of the multicultural character of education are discussed.

Learning styles is the only information available to western academics, so that they can adjust the teaching strategy, enhance students' imagination and challenge them to the new for them “student‐centered” teaching strategy. On‐line managed learning environments can bridge the gap between the east and west academic pedagogies.

It is hoped that the growing interest of on‐line delivery of courses will be of particular value for courses delivered from western academics to Asia. The awareness of students' learning styles will provide the opportunity for the teachers from the western institutions to substantially contribute to global knowledge transfer across cultural borders.

The diversity will always exist in the classroom and the success of teaching is based on the ability to use the awareness of differences, and facilitate skills to make these differences benefit the students and the class as a whole.

We consider the theory and evidence supporting learning styles, and contrast these with the related concepts of learning preferences and student choice. Although the theory of learning styles remains popular in the field of education as one guidepost teachers might use to maximize the effectiveness of instruction for individual students, including students with learning and behavioral disabilities, a review of the evidence supporting a learning styles approach suggests that it offers little benefit to students with disabilities. In contrasting learning styles with the related concept of learning preferences, we posit that interventions based on student choice may offer a more parsimonious and evidence-driven approach to enhancing instruction and improving outcomes for students with learning and behavioral disabilities.