Transitional Learning Style Preferences and Its Factors in Newer Generation Engineering Students

Abstract

It is well established that learners have differentlearning preferences. There are multiple ways ofcharacterising learners based on their learning preferencesavailable in the literature. Even though there are efforts todesign pedagogic practices considering the learningpreferences of learners, it still demands furtherinvestigation. Further, what factors influence learningpreferences of learners is also an interesting dimension ofresearch. This paper discusses about our observations overchanging learning preferences of learners over a period oftime and investigating the influence of factors like gender, urban / rural divide and medium of instruction on learningstyle preferences of learners. This study is desirable as itwill help design content as well pedagogy respecting thelearning preferences. Learning style preferences ofstudents of undergraduate engineering degree programsare used for the purpose of this study. Though there aredifferent learning style assessment methods / toolsavailable in the literature, because of availability ofsoftware tool and the familiarity of authors with the tool, Questionnaire from Index of Learning styles (ILS) byRichard M. Felder and Silverman is used in the study. It isevident from the results that learners' preferences arechanging from verbal to visual, reflective to active, sequential to global and sensory to intitutive. The results ofthe study are presented in the paper and discussed.