Session 31

Title: Online Learning & Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners: Does one size fit all?

Session Description:

As instructors, we often feel that there isn’t enough time to cover all the course topics we feel duty-bound to cover. Students, on the other hand, lead busy lives; gone are the days of the “full-time” student. Countless students - whether at high school, college, or university - feel compelled to work and many put in as many hours at paid employment outside the school environment as they put into seat time in the classroom. Consistent with an economic model based on the scarcity of resources (in our students’ case, time and money), these students are forced to maximize their returns (i.e., grades, credits) against their efforts. Extra work imposes on their already busy timetable.

The shift to an online environment is significantly altering the traditional paradigm for teaching and learning as some students naively trade what they perceive as ‘convenience’ for an extra burden of learning. This study (N = 94) examined cognitive style (perceptual modality preferences as determined by a VARK inventory) with regard to student use of online learning. Findings of note included a negative correlation between those with auditory preferences and their use of WebCT. Conversely, there was a positive correlation between students’ kinesthetic preferences and their use of WebCT; however, the implication of this correlation is not necessarily positive.

The power and promise of online learning lies in its ability to integrate multi-sensory approaches to learning. The significance of this study lies in 1) providing preliminary insight into how we unwittingly disadvantage students with certain cognitive preferences, and 2) may encourage us to better understand how to design and integrate the multi-sensory components so that no student is disadvantaged by the medium being utilized.

Presenters: Glenn Cockerline, Dave Yearwood

Glenn Cockerline, Ph.D.: Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, Brandon University. Glenn’s interests center on areas related to the improvement of instruction. He draws on the wisdom acquired through two decades of diverse classroom teaching assignments in the public school system and a decade working with teachers-in-training. Cockerline’s research is particularly focused on how students acquire the information they are expected to assimilate in their various courses.


Dave Yearwood, Ph.D., CSIT: Associate Professor and chair of the Technology Department, University of North Dakota. Dave’s dual work on technology is on the development of “smart systems” for electronic control and instructional technologies centered around the notion of “electronic pedagogy”. Yearwood is specifically interested in how faculty infuse various technologies into their practice to engage students, enhance their understanding of relevant content, and promote dialogue leading to a critical examination of topics under examination.