Exploring the Preferred Learning Styles among Undergraduate Medical Students and Postgraduate Residents by Using VARK Inventory

Abstract

Background: Factors which influence learning are educators, students, curriculum, and educational environment. To support the learning environment, educators should be aware of the different learning styles of students, so as to efficiently design the teaching strategies and methodologies to cater to the learning needs of students. Objectives: To determine various learning styles of undergraduate medical students and postgraduate residents by using the VARK questionnaire. To determine the comparison between learning styles of undergraduates and postgraduates.                  Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted about the learning style preferences of undergraduate medical students and postgraduate residents of Fatima Jinnah Medical University, Lahore, and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore. The VARK questionnaire was used to categorize the learning styles as Visual (V), Auditory (A), Read and Write (R) and Kinesthetic (K). This study was conducted from 15 July to 15 August 2019. A total of 208 students were selected randomly from final year MBBS and postgraduate residents of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore. Results: Among 208 students, 102 were undergraduate students and 106 were postgraduate residents. The most common learning style was Kinesthetic (34%) followed by Auditory (29%), Visual (20%), and Read/Write (17%). The unimodal and multimodal percentage of students was 62% and 38% respectively. Conclusion: The majority of undergraduate students and postgraduate residents in this study had unimodal learning styles. The most common learning style of all students was Kinesthetic (K) which was followed by Auditory (A), Visual (V), and Read/Write (R). Keywords: Learning styles, VARK, Postgraduate residents