Impact of personalised learning styles on online delivery and assessment

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which learning styles influence
tertiary students’ preferences for flexible delivery and assessment methods in higher education.
Design/methodology/approach – A voluntary self-administered questionnaire was distributed
within three core undergraduate courses. A total of 891 students responded to the survey, across a
range of locations, representing a response rate of approximately 45 per cent
Findings – Results reveal that learning styles do not appear to influence students level of preference
overall for flexible delivery methods and assessment approaches. However, there remain a significant
percentage of students who report that they do not want all course delivery to be online. The findings
generally suggest that there are changing expectations of students in relation to delivery and
assessment in tertiary education
Research limitations/implications – The research has been conducted at undergraduate level in
business disciplines and therefore may not adequately represent the opinions of postgraduate
students, or students from other disciplines. In addition over 75 per cent of respondents fall within the
Generation Y category, which means that these results may not be generalisable to older populations
of learners.
Practical implications – Demonstrates to educators the importance of considering learning styles
when developing, delivery and assessing courses, and reinforces that very few students desire entirely
online courses.
Originality/value – The paper focuses specifically on the preferences of students in relation to
assessment and delivery via technology and identifies critical considerations for course developers.