Learning Styles and Engineering Management

Abstract

Learning styles have been discussed for years as an approach to enable engineering education to become more effective. However, even though many successful applications have been documented, there has been scant scientific evidence of its effectiveness. At the same time, there are many benefits in using asynchronous tools to complement in-campus classes as well as in distance education. However there is concern that these tools will not be as effective as traditional lectures. This paper reports on a study 1 that was performed at the University of Missouri - Rolla, which successfully measured the impact of one of the learning styles to engineering students. It utilized a web site that contained three tutorial learning modules. These modules were designed for asynchronous application and with varying degrees of global and sequential content in their learning environments. Thirty-two graduate and undergraduate students participated in the study, which became a part of an established engineering course. The students were tested for their learning styles as well as their knowledge of the material before and after each of the Internet-based tutorial sessions. The results of the study showed that the student learning was no worse than in previous classes, which had covered the same material without the help of the asynchronous tutorials. This implies that educators can use more Web-based educational content in their classes with confidence that it can be effectively managed. In addition, it was found global learners learned better in a global environment and sequential students learned better in a sequential environment. This gives more choices to educators on how to reach their students and ways to improve learning effectiveness.

Department(s)

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0190-1052

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2024 American Society of Engineering Education, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Dec 1999

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