Learning Preferences and Learning Styles of Online Adult Learners

Learning Reading Printed materials like books, hand-outs, worksheets, puzzles, and newspapers Storytelling, discussion and presentation Logical Learning Thinking Real-life experiences (hierarchical), linear instruction Discussion, brainstorming and critical analysis of real-world situations Sensual Learning Feeling Creative experiences (random), rich learning objects Role-playing, case studies and storytelling At this point, remembering the learning and facilitating principles for adults may be also useful. From the learning styles point of view listed by MacKeracher (2009), (1) Adult learners have individual learning styles and mental abilities and are heterogeneous in terms of these characteristics, (2) If learners’ and facilitators’ learning styles mismatch, the result will be unsatisfactory, (3) Learning styles are value-neutral, a style adaptive in one situation may not be adaptive in others, (4) Adults prefer to select learning situations and learning facilitating interactions individually, and (5) Adults prefer to start from the learning activity they feel most comfortable with (p. 82-83). All of these mean that, although you try to reach out learners’ characteristics and try to provide appropriate instructional approaches, the preferences of learners may fluctuate for different content, instructor and so on. So, it is really important to collect continuous data through an inventory, get feedback from the learners as to whether the results are reasonable and appropriate, and re-organize all aspects to reach a more effective solution. Since there are many researchers who found that learning styles are important for knowledge performance (Manochehr, 2006) and should be considered for effective e-learning (Willems, 2007), it is e-instructors’ responsibility to focus on students’ awareness of learning styles and provide a rich variety of instructional components to address all learners. As also stated by Butler and Pinto-Zipp (2005-2006), “Educators must be challenged beyond the definitions established in the pre-online era, identify the learning styles of online learners, and analyze the types of instructional methods that are unique to online learning.” (p. 219). Because today the Internet has become a learning environment, we should deal with developing quality learning for the online setting. As underlined by Cooze and Barbour (2007), our main goal should be “...to consist of designing instruction which will foster and enhance learning for each student regardless of their individual differences and irrespective of the setting for learning” (p. 16). Therefore, all models and theories previously put forward should be reinvestigated in order to adapt to this new learning environment and pedagogy. Acknowledgements The support by Asst. Prof. Dr. Cem Babadoğan is gratefully acknowledged for his excellent facilitation in the process of reaching e-learning style types.