Learning Style and Course Performance: an Empirical Study of Uniten It Students

Many tertiary education institutions struggle in identifying how best to teach students to learn statistics. Finding factors which advocate successful and effective learning is considered vital in any tertiary education institutions. Numerous studies have been conducted within the context of teaching and learning in order to determine the factors that contribute to a better learning environment. This includes determining how various learning styles affect students’ performance. By knowing students’ learning preferences, the course instructor can assimilate necessary course delivery methods which suit students’ learning style preferences, thus enhancing the learning experience. This paper intends to examine the relationship between learning styles and course performance in Statistics course of IT students in Uniten. Thirty (30) IT students in Statistics for Computing class in Semester 2 2012/2013 participated in this study. They were asked to complete the Visual Auditory Kinaesthetic (VAK) learning style self-assessment questionnaire. Based on the assessed learning styles, all participants preferred single sensory modality with 37% are Visual (V) learners, 26% are Auditory (A) learners and 37% are Kinaesthetic (K) learners. The performance of the students in all three (3) learning styles was analyzed by using both parametric and non parametric tests due to the small sample size. Both tests yield the same result; it was found that there was no statistical significant relationship between learning style and course performance. © 2014 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved.