Learning & Personality Types: A Case Study of a Software Design Course

The software industry has continued to grow over the past decade and there is now a need to provide education and hands-on training to students in various phases of software life cycle. Software design is one of the vital phases of the software development cycle. Psychological theories assert that not everybody is fit for all kind of tasks as people have different personality traits and abilities. The learning pattern of students is influenced by the personality types, with individuals having different personality types their learning pattern varies. The personality type of an individual generates a great deal of impact on the performance of various activities that humans can carry out. The behavior of individuals with a particular type of personality reflects the way these people perceive the world and make decisions. This personality type classification covers many aspects of human behavior, such as attitude, action and reaction, thinking, learning, feeling, and lifestyle. In this paper we provide empirical evidence about the significance of the personality types and discuss the learning pattern in an undergraduate software design course. The experiment was conducted on a subject of 85 students over the period of two years from 2007 to 2008. We employed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) after carefully assessing other well regarded personality testing techniques such as MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) and 16PF (Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire) to identify the personality type. MBTI establishes four parameters for assessing personality types. We all have the personality qualities contained within each scale or parameter, but we naturally prefer some qualities or are more comfortable with some styles than others. With the MBTI, each scale is bimodal with its central point having a zero value. Quantitative mechanisms were also employed in the form of paper based exams, assignments, projects, and quizzes for evaluating learning patterns of students. The results of the study found that individuMaterial published as part of this publication, either on-line or in print, is copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute. Permission to make digital or paper copy of part or all of these works for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage AND that copies 1) bear this notice in full and 2) give the full citation on the first page. It is permissible to abstract these works so long as credit is given. To copy in all other cases or to republish or to post on a server or to redistribute to lists requires specific permission and payment of a fee. Contact [email protected] to request redistribution permission.