Learning Style in Theoretical Courses: Nursing Students’ Perceptions and Experiences

Introduction: Learning style as a whole is less regarded in nursing education. This study was conducted to explore, describe, and illustrate students' perceptions and experiences of learning style. The multiplicity feature of students' learning style in theoretical courses is presented in this article. Methods: In this qualitative study, 16 bachelor and master students in different academic semesters were selected through purposeful sampling and interviewed using deep and semi-structured interviews. All interviews were tape-recorded, transcribed and then analyzed using constant comparison based on Strauss and Corbin's method. Results: Students' learning style in theoretical courses as the main theme comprised 8 sub-themes including learning through question and answer learning through example, story, and objective instances (visualizing or exemplifying intellectually) observational or visual learning learning through organizing the content learning through practice and homework learning through active participation and cooperation learning through making to think and get motivated and, learning through listening and note-taking. Conclusion: Students make use of different learning styles or a combination of them based on the type of content, environment, and educational situation. Students' learning style is highly influenced by instructors teaching style who are more focused on their teaching style and completing their course syllabus. Nursing instructors, students, and curriculum planners could use the introduced styles in this study in order to modify and promote the quality of nursing education.