Beyond Delivery: A Case Study in e-Learning for Podiatry Students

Abstract

Learning styles is a concept that can evoke strong opinions. Yet, used judiciously in a
specific context, it can serve as an indicator of the learning style preferences of a cohort of students, and help guide the construction of their e-learning environment at that time. Moreover, it can be utilised as a metacognitive tool to aid the understanding of personal learning processes (Coffield et al, 2004). Using both the Index of Learning Styles (Felder & Soloman, 1991, 1994) and a qualitative survey questionnaire, research was conducted to investigate the impact of learning styles within the context of a virtual podiatry clinic. The aim was to examine the congruence between students’ learning styles and the e-learning design to assess whether this had an impact on students who indicated that they found the virtual learning environment only ‘moderately helpful’. Such feedback was divergent to the majority of students who had reported the virtual clinic as being a highlight of the unit.