Utilizing Learning Styles For effective Web-Based Learning

Mohamed M. Bouker Mohamed A. ArteimiAcademy of Graduate Studies Computer Science DepartmentTripoli-Libya 7th of April UniversityBouker@hiep.edu.ly Zawia-Libya

arteimi@yahoo.com

Abstract

We present a model of web-based learning for teaching Visual Programming in Delphi, by adopting individual learning styles. A software system was developed for this purpose where two learning models (namely; 4MAT system and PBL system) are implemented. The goal of this research is to examine the influence of the two selected models on students of different learning styles enrolled in a web-based programming course.Students were randomly divided into two groups, one for each learning model, and are given access to a website designed specifically for this purpose. Pre and post-tests were carried out. A controlled evaluation is currently underway to assess the impacts of the system on students programming skills as well as their attitudes surrounding the use of available web facilities.

Keywords: web-based learning; learning styles; learning models; PBL; 4MAT.

1 Introduction

The integration between information and telecommunication technologies has

supported distance learning by providing learning situations that are accessible to

individuals at any time and anywhere.

The issue of assisting people to “ learn how to learn “ has been an active

research area, and now there is a growing acceptance that understanding the way

students learn is the key to improve the education process. There is a consensus that

each person has a preferred way of perceiving and utilizing knowledge, which indicates

the way he/she structures and analyses the information. Therefore, learning will be

easier when there is a strong correlation between the ways in which new material is

presented to us and our learning preferences. Conversely, We will find learning more

difficult when there is a large disparity between our learning style and the mode of

learning. Hence, As teachers, our teaching methods reflect our style in learning, thus

knowing our learning style will help us develop a strategy for learning / teaching

strategies.

For the last three decades researchers have started to pay considerable attention

to learning styles theory. Although some researchers in the field of Computer Science

Education have adopted the idea of using learning styles in education, there is still little

research on the adaptation to individual styles in web-based learning environments[8].

This research investigates the difference of student’s performance with respect

to the selected learning model, which will provide us with information about the

suitability of web-based learning in the area of computer programming, as well as the

viability of incorporating learning styles in the design of web-based courses.

A system named “WBLS” was designed and implemented to provide a flexible

environment for learners by adopting learning styles theory in web-based learning. The

System can be located at (www.delphi4all.com).

2 Objectives

The main purpose of this research project is to find out better way to design online

material that is enjoyable and easy to comprehend, and enhances the learning process.

The research attempts to answer the following two questions:

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o Is there a viable relationship between learning styles conceptualized by Kolb,

McCarthy and others, and the web-based learning with respect to teaching visual

programming in computer science?

o Are the learning styles models, adopted in this research work, equally effective

for all students?

Considering the importance of distance learning especially for large number of

students or when there is a shortage in teaching staff and tutors, we hope that the

expected results of the proposed research will be a step on the way to facilitate the

education process and would contribute a positive add in the aspect of web-based

learning.

Three null hypotheses were developed for testing at the two-tailed α priori level of 0.05.

HO1. There are no statistically significant differences in the mean WBLS class

achievement scores among the online students when grouped by different learning

styles for both Models

HO2. There are no statistically significant differences in the mean WBLS class

achievement scores among the online students when grouped by their gender for

both Models.

HO3. There are no statistically significant differences in the mean WBLS class

achievement scores among the online students of the two Models.

3 Background Research

3.1 Learning Styles theory

The term “Learning styles” refers to the ways individuals prefer to receive,

process and present information and ideas. Some people, for example, find it easier to

understand a new concept by reading a textbook, whilst others prefer a verbal

explanation. Likewise, people may vary in how they most effectively demonstrate their

understanding: graphically, verbally, or in writing. Since the 1970's the educational

community has had considerable interest in the notion of learning styles. A number of

different models have been proposed, and research in a wide variety of educational

contexts has taken place in the past 30 years. As a consequence, the wide acceptance of

use of learning styles in education led to application of such approach to web-based

courses [1,4,5].

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In this research, two learning Models are applied, Problem Based Learning (PBL) and

the 4MAT System Model.

3.2 Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

The first learning method that has been selected to be applied on web-based

learning is the problem-based learning. PBL could be applied in any learning

environment in which the problem drives the learning. That is, before students learn any

information they are given a problem. The problem is posed so that a student discovers

that he/she needs to learn some new knowledge before he/she can solve the problem.

However, there is an indication that problem-based learning method is appropriate for

the majority of learners [2].

Posing a problem before learning a new piece of information tends to motivate

students and know why they are learning the new knowledge. Learning in the context of

the need to solve a problem also tends to store the knowledge in memory patterns that

facilitate later recall for solving problems (most of us have forgotten some material we

have learned during undergraduate study)

PBL promotes students’ confidence in their problem-solving skills and strives to

make them self-directed learners. These skills can put PBL students at an advantage in

future courses and in their careers.

There are many reasons behind the selection of PBL method such as:

It enables students to be active learners and self directed.

It engages students to work in groups and acquire very good skills in Problem solving and enhance their communication skills.

It enables students to learn for understanding rather than for recall of isolated facts.

3.3 4MAT System Model This system incorporates Kolb's four learning styles and recent research on right/left

brain hemispheric processing. As Kolb [6] described that each person's learning style is

a combination of perceiving and processing information; McCarthy [7] describes four

major styles:

1- Type One "Innovative Learners" 2- Type Two "Analytic Learners"

3- Type Three "Common Sense Learners" 4- Type Four "Dynamic Learners"

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A cycle is made with four quadrants; each student should pass all four quadrants to

learn the material. Each learning style can get the most from one quadrant but can be

improved by the other quadrants.

Each quadrant may contain many activities, so the student will go through all these

activities.

Figure 1: Four quadrants of 4MAT model

By passing the 4 quadrants, students ask the following 4 questions respectively:

Why? What? How? What if?

Figure 2: Four learning types(styles) - four questions

McCarthy identified eight theoretical approaches to the learning process cycle,

which format the 4MAT System Model [3,7].

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Brain processing, or the way in which the brain is able to take in and perceive the

information is important in understanding learning styles. This area has to do with the

concept of left and right brain dominance. It is important to understand that both sides

of the brain are able to reason, however, they use different strategies and it may appear

that one side is dominant over the other.

The 4MAT System is based on left and right brain hemisphere. The following

eight quadrants come from the four quarters times 2 “right and left brain sectors per

quarter”

(R) = Right Brain

(L) = Left Brain Figure 3:The eight steps of the 4MAT learning cycle

The 4MAT System has a distinction from the other learning styles theories; it takes

into account all learning styles in a single cycle of learning process, which can involve

all learners’ differences. The question explored is whether 4MAT, as a learning style

model, can be applied successfully to a web-based course for computer visual

programming.

4 Methodology

4.1 Participants

The course is targeting students of the sixth semester in the Higher Institute of

Electronic Professions-Tripoli (HIEP): URL: www.hiep.edu.ly

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The population of the study consisted of 30 students during the fall semester of

the academic year 2005/2006.

4.2 Domain

The system was used to teach Visual Programming in DELPHI as a web-based

course instead of the traditional face-to-face method. The material is designed in two

different aspects, one according to the 4MAT Model and the other according to the PBL

Model. To benefit from the electronic advantages, the course material is supported with

pictures, sounds, animations and videos. This was a Web-based course in which all the

course materials and resources were accessed and delivered by the Internet, and the

student could access any sections or tools within his part (group) of this learning

environment.

4.3 ProcedureThe study was empirical and exploratory. In order to collect data on participants

learning styles, the instructor administered a questionnaire that takes about 20 minutes

for the participants to complete. Students were randomly assigned to two groups: a

4MAT Group or a PBL group. A statistical analysis was conducted at the end of the

course.

4.4 The research instruments

The instructor administered two types of questionnaires; the first was used to

identify each student’s preferred learning style, which is used in the comparison of the

two learning methods. This comparison is expected to clarify:

Which group will gain better achievement.

Which learning method can offer a balance between different learning styles in a

web-based learning environment.

The second type of questionnaire was a Likert-Type survey administered at the end

of the course to gather students’ opinions about the course and to see if participants

enjoyed the course and developed positive attitude toward web-based learning.

Pre and post tests were carried out as an evaluation method and the obtained results

were analyzed as a basis of the research.

4.5 System Architecture

The WBLS system was built over IIS web server, ASP dynamic web pages and

SQL database. VB Script & Java Script codes are used in addition to HTML code.

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As a web-based application, all users interact with the system through a browser, such

as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator

Figure 4: Three-Tier architecture of WBLS

WBLS Architecture is a three-tier architecture in the database realm. The server side

database is hidden by the student Module and the Instructor Module.

WBLS has a Modular Architecture. Its four modules, shown in Figure 5 are: Student

Module (SM), Instructor Module (IM), Communication Module (CM), Tutoring

Module (TM)

Figure 5 : Web-based architecture for WBLS

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Students accessed the course online by dividing them into two groups; each

group accessed only one of the two cases (PBL or 4MAT) according to the assigned

username and password.

Figure 6:Lessons login page Figure 7: Sample problem

Although the two groups are participating in different learning methods, the learning

material is the same. During the course, students were getting support from the

instructor all the time via the communication utilities in the course website.

The main risk of any web-based course is the absence of face to face interaction

between the instructor and his students, and to overcome this problem we implemented

three types of communication activities in the system which are :

1. CHAT ROOM in which students can discuss issues and help each other online

and take assistance from the instructor in a scheduled periods.

Figure 8: a screen shot of course chat room

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2. MESSAGING the system provides a built-in E-mail accounts to all students so

that they can interact with each other as well as with the instructor in an

asynchronous way at any time of the day. This utility is very important because

there is no need for the two side of the communication process to be online, and

the sent message will be read only by the actual receiver.

Figure 9: A screen shot of messaging activities

3. DISCUSSION BOARD This is a very helpful utility to let students share ideas

and solutions and get some help from the instructor.

The communication activities were very helpful. At first, students were encouraged to

join the discussions by sending them online messages and asking them questions at the

discussion board, after a few days they became more enthusiast and contribute to the

discussions to the extent that a lot of time was spent to reply to their questions and

comments.

Figure 10: The discussion board Figure 11: Some discussion board shots

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The instructor can manage the whole course through the administrator page in which he/she can manage students accounts (add, delete or modify), and control the communication activities.

Figure 12: The Administrator (Instructor) page5 Results

Both groups have positive gains in attitude on the post test. A Univariate Analysis of

Varriance ANOVA test by learning style showed no significant differences between

students in both groups on total attitude score. Therefore, the sub hypothesis was not

rejected.

The same test showed no significant differences between students of different learning

styles in each group (4MAT & PBL).

Post achievement means scores indicated that the PBL group scored higher on the

posttest. There was a gain score increase of 18.54 points in the mean on the post-test for

the PBL group, while the 4MAT group had a mean score increase of 12.24 points.

A Kruskal-wallis test revealed significant differences on the achievement posttests for

males and females in the PBL group favoring Females for overall achievement

( p=0.025 < .05) , while no significant differences between males and females in the

4MAT group (p=0.283).

6 Conclusion and future work

We believe that providing this programming course online utilising learning

styles theory was a great step in web-based learning research.

According to results of evaluation survey filled by students, The course scored

over 3.96 for all questions (maximum score 5.0) on the Evaluation survey of students

indicated extremely high satisfaction with the course, with the lowest score being 3.31.

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Although the results of this study may not be generalized to the entire population

of undergraduate students, the results can still provide valuable information to

educational providers as they plan and deliver education program to students.

Some good comments are reported by students in which will take place in

future. The research is still under progress, so replication study covering more

participants is undertaking during the spring semester 2006 to acquire more accurate

results. By doing more experiments and by adopting more learning models, we may

discover a strategy to expect the suitability of each model to the participant

characteristics such as: preferred learning style, sex, and dominant side of his brain.

The system may be developed to automatically determine the participant’s

characteristics and adapt the lessons accordingly.

7 References

1. Desypris, G. (2002), “Enhancement of Learning Process in Web-based Courses Using Combined Media Components”, M.Sc. thesis, naval postgraduate school, California.

2. Edward, S. N. (2001), “Evaluation of a constructivist approach to student induction in relation to students’ learning style”, European Journal of Engineering Education, 26/4, pp.429-440.

3. Gary, D. and Palmer, J. (2001), “Learning Styles and Web-Based Learning: The 4MAT Methodology”, WebNet Journal, 3/2, April-June.

4. Han, B. (2001),“ Student Modeling and Adaptive in Web-based Learning Systems”, Masters thesis, Massey university.

5. Knut, O.T.(2002) , “Mobile Learning Technological Challenges on Multi channel E-learning”, Masters thesis , Agder university college.

6. Kolb, D. (1984), “Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development”, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

7. McCarthy, B. (1987), “The 4MAT System: Teaching to Learning Styles with Right/Left Mode Techniques”, Barrington, IL: Excel, Inc.

8. Wolf, C. (2003), “iWeaver: Towards 'Learning Style-based e-Learning in Computer Science Education”, Ph.D. Project, RMIT University.

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