Reflectors as online extraverts? Educational Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3, September 2004 Dr. Kevin Downing & Ms. Alice Chim

Research Questions & Operational Definitions Do Learning Styles work online and if so, how? Learning Styles (Honey and Mumford, 1982) –Activists –Pragmatists –Theorists –Reflectors Blended Learning

Gandell et al. (2000) Minimal: Use of web neither relevant or necessary to achieve learning goals Supplemental: Use of web relevant but not necessary to achieve a few explicitly stated learning goals Integral: Use of web relevant and contributes to achieving some learning goals Central: Use of web that is relevant and necessary to achieve most learning goals in the course Exclusive: Use of web that is relevant and necessary to achieve all learning goals in the course

What does the literature tell us? Salmon (2001): Activists are Extraverts Pragmatists are Extraverts Theorists are Introverts Reflectors are Introverts Barron (2002): Reflectors prevalent amongst Asian degree students

(Quantitative) Results: Reflectors prefer online learning to ‘traditional’ learning modes

(Qualitative) Traditional mode vs. Online mode Traditional mode -Difficulties in comprehension during lesson -Get lost easily Online mode -Learn better -Able to do preparation in advance -Understand better during lessons

Student Feedback (Traditional class) “I have not had time to process the information during lessons.” “Sometimes the teachers ask us questions, and I have no idea what the answers are.” “I see other students having discussion with the peers and the teacher, but I don’t really understand what they are talking about” “Sometimes, I got lost in the lessons.”

Student Feedback (Online class) “I downloaded the materials from the web platform and read it before the lesson, then I found that it helped me to understand better during lesson.” Although we do not see each other often, the bulletin board is certainly a great tool that we are learning online at home as well. I certainly enjoy a lot and I hope more people can join and share more views. One head is not better than two heads and two heads is not better than three....four....five. Imagine we bring all the intelligence/experience together, it becomes the knowledge reservoir. I enjoyed this course so much. Though it's an online course, I think it's somehow more interactive than some normal courses.

Some Preliminary Conclusions Extraversion/Introversion shows potential as a predictive measure of student satisfaction in online/blended learning modes of delivery. Salmon’s (2001) results are not supported: Reflectors are Online Extraverts! Previous research assertions correlating the Reflector learning style with high reported student satisfaction are supported. It seems that Reflectors behave as Introverts in the traditional classroom and Extraverts online.

Thank you very much Thank you very much