Search results

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.

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 purpose of this paper is to determine if “fit” and “non-fit” between authoritarian versus demonstrator teaching and visual versus verbal learning preferences differ in impact on Chinese MBA student academic performance in a large local urban Chinese university setting. In addition, the role of Chinese cultural behavioral tendencies in dictating specific teaching and learning style preferences among Chinese MBA students is also examined.

Subjects were 135 Chinese MBA students that indicated their learning style preference (verbal or visual) and predominant teaching style encountered (authoritarian or demonstrator). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) main effects were used to identify the best teaching style and best learning style. ANOVA interaction effects were used to test the meshing hypothesis (i.e. teaching-learning style “fit” versus “non-fit” conditions).

The results provided support for the mesh hypothesis – teaching style – learning style fit does matter. In general, authoritarian teaching was superior to demonstrator, and verbal learning was superior to visual. Findings also suggest that the demonstrator teaching style may better handle different learning styles (e.g. both verbal and visual) simultaneously as compared to the classic authoritarian teaching style.

The findings support and contribute to the body of knowledge about the mesh hypothesis and provide the foundations for further longitudinal studies evaluating teaching and learning styles learning styles in a multicultural and cross-cultural context. A limitation of the study is that self-report responses were used and the data were collected at one Chinese university.

The results suggest that instructors are likely to reach only a selected few students if it is assumed that all students learn in the same way or based on cultural orientation alone. University administrators should be aware of the role of cultural tendencies related to teaching and learning and how cross-cultural communication and multicultural awareness can provide insights into strategies for social and academic integration of foreign students.

To date, the meshing hypothesis has received far less theoretical or empirical attention than the general learning style and teaching style hypotheses. This study addresses that gap.

This paper aims to focus on the thinking styles of a group of Accounting students, and to determine whether team teaching by two criteria-specific lecturers can be an effective collaborative teaching approach to accommodate students’ diverse learning preferences. Research on thinking and learning processes led to a four-quadrant whole-brain model of people’s thinking styles and associated learning preferences. The model can be used to identify and accommodate students’ diverse thinking styles and learning preferences.

A case study approach was followed, using multiple data collection methods. The thinking styles of 288 students and two lecturers were surveyed using a thinking style questionnaire and the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument. The results of the collaborative teaching approach were obtained by way of a survey questionnaire providing both quantitative and qualitative feedback, as well as a SWOT analysis completed by the involved lecturers.

The main results suggest that a collaborative teaching approach can address students’ diverse learning preferences, although some students may find constant switching between lecturers distracting.

The collaborative teaching approach in the teaching interaction cannot be isolated. Collaborative teaching was not repeated or extended due to resource constraints.

Academics from all disciplines recognise a need for a teaching practice that addresses students’ diverse learning preferences. Hitherto, outside of special education, collaborative teaching has received little scholarly attention, especially as an approach to address tertiary students’ diverse learning preferences.

Although learning styles and teaching quality have been studied separately, the association between the association between the two has yet to be identified. The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between students’ learning styles with students’ perceptions of teaching quality.

The study used survey responses from 272 undergraduate students. All 80 items in the Honey and Mumford’s (1986) Learning Styles Questionnaire and all 46 teaching quality items (Thompson, 2002) were used to assess learning styles and perceptions of teaching quality, respectively. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the relationships between learning styles and perception of teaching quality.

Results indicate learners with dominant reflector or activist styles are influenced in their perceptions of teaching quality of their teacher or lecturer. No perceptions of teaching quality relationships were found for students with dominant theorist or pragmatist learning style.

Recognising that perceptions of teaching quality impacts on some students, teachers and lecturers may consider and articulate the type of learning they would prefer students to adopt for a particular class. As an example, a teacher might ask students who would normally see themselves as active learners to relax into the lecture mode of delivery and reflect on what is said in the lecture, to take time to consider what is said.

This study combines the two important constructs of learning and perception of teaching quality to provide insight into the relationship between the two.

Individual students have different learning styles, and lecturers can no longer afford to ignore this. Lecturers have a responsibility to accommodate students’ different learning styles by including learning style flexibility in the offered learning opportunities. The purpose of this study is to map a teaching case study against the Herrmann Whole Brain® model to determine whether learning style flexibility has been incorporated in the teaching case study.

A teaching case study was developed and delivered as part of an undergraduate level course at a South African residential university. The case study’s primary intention was to illustrate the practical evaluation of general controls in an information technology environment. The teaching case study was analysed in terms of the Herrmann Whole Brain® model to determine whether learning style flexibility had been accommodated in the learning opportunity.

Based on an analysis of the teaching case study against the Herrmann Whole Brain® model, it is evident that the teaching case study incorporated activities that addressed all four quadrants of the Whole Brain® model. It can therefore be concluded that the learning opportunity incorporated learning style flexibility.

This paper contributes to the literature in accounting education by focusing on learning style flexibility specifically using the Herrmann Whole Brain® model, as it appears that limited examples of the use of this model in accounting education have yet been published. Although this paper discusses the use of an auditing case study, the results may be of interest to lecturers in other subject areas across the academic spectrum.

This article identifies the association between two methods for teaching lean manufacturing (LM): problem-based learning (PBL) and classroom lectures, and students' learning styles of a postgraduate course.

Data were collected from graduate students LM courses that present different teaching approaches. Thus, students' learning preferences were gathered through the application of the Index of Learning Style questionnaire, and their performance assessed after each course.

Results indicate that learning styles are indeed associated with LM teaching approaches, and comprehending interaction effects between learning style dimensions is essential for properly adapting the teaching method. However, these interactions have different extensions.

Although teaching LM has significantly evolved over the past decades, the single application of traditional teaching methods jeopardizes learning effectiveness of graduate students because of the practical nature of LM. This study provides evidence to better understand the effect of complementary teaching methods and their relationship with students' preferences, empirically examining that there is not one best approach for understanding LM.

As online learning opportunities increase in today's society, librarians need to consider additional ways to design online instruction effectively. Developing the strategies necessary to teach and learn online successfully requires an understanding of learning styles and how they may be best addressed in the online environment. As is the case in a face‐to‐face classroom, the use of a specific teaching style or set of styles must expand in order to address different learning styles when teaching online. Successful teaching and learning depend on all participants possessing the attitudes necessary to succeed in the online environment. This paper provides information about learning and teaching styles, and it addresses how teaching to various learning styles may be accomplished using the available online tools and resources.

The purpose of this research is to describe the teaching style of the faculty of a Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) organization in a Midwestern state and the degree and method of application of adult learning principles by the POST faculty. The move of law enforcement to community‐oriented policing (COP) requires that police officers develop communication and problem‐solving skills. The application of adult learning principles in law enforcement education can help prepare officers for their role in COP.

In this mixed method/descriptive study, 85 instructors completed the Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) and 21 instructors participated in in‐depth interviews.

Major findings in the study related to POST instructors' strong preference for a teacher‐centered style of teaching as measured by PALS and a disconnect between what instructors do in the classroom and what they feel is effective instruction.

Offers suggestions related to the nature of the field and for instructor development. Recommendations were made related to professional development and the application of adult learning principles to law enforcement education and training.

This research fills a void in the field by beginning to give a formal description of teaching style in law enforcement education and training. It also details the value of applying adult learning theory in law enforcement instruction and the implications for community‐oriented policing.

Today, learning styles have gained awareness in managerial circles. To trainers, a knowledge of learning styles can help to structure their programmes and teaching methods to maximize learning. Focuses on the learning styles of learners. The aim is to understand from the heterogeneous mix of learners′ learning styles the group learning style so that trainers can best adapt their teaching style and materials to suit the learners′ group learning style. A discussion of the learning style inventory, learning styles, teaching style, and course design, follows.