1. Amber Settle (CDM), joint work with Tom Berry (Commerce) DePaul 2009 Faculty Teaching and Learning Conference April 17, 2009

2.  People vary in the way that they learn and retain information  Various instruments to model and measure these differences ◦ Myers-Briggs (personality types related to learning) ◦ Learning Style Inventory (Kolb’s model) ◦ The Index of Learning Styles (Felder-Silverman model)  Awareness of learning styles can be beneficial ◦ Purpose is not to teach in a targeted manner ◦ Encourage diverse teaching/learning styles

3.  Developed for use on engineering students ◦ Correlates well with other learning-style models ◦ Tested for validity and reliability ◦ Developed by Felder and Silverman  Four dimensions ◦ Active – Reflective ◦ Sensing – Intuitive ◦ Visual – Verbal ◦ Sequential – Global  A disconnect ◦ Studies show most students are predominantly Active, Sensing, Visual, and Sequential learners ◦ Finance and programming courses are often lecture- based, which is more helpful for Reflective, Intuitive, Verbal, and Sequential learners

4.  Two types of courses ◦ Financial Management (FIN 310) ◦ Introductory programming  Java: CSC 211/212  Python: CSC 241/242  C++: CSC 261/262 ◦ Technically- and mathematically-focused ◦ High withdrawal and failure rates  Two populations ◦ Faculty (CDM and Commerce) ◦ Students (CDM and Commerce)

5.  Survey ◦ Basic demographic information ◦ ILS instrument (44 questions)  Winter 2009  Responses ◦ Commerce (solicited in person)  121 students  11 faculty ◦ CDM (solicited by e-mail and completed online)  101 students (29% response rate)  12 faculty (71% response rate) ◦ Grouped together for this presentation

7.  All faculty ◦ ACT: 3B, SNS: 1B, VIS: 1A, SEQ: 3B ◦ Reflective, Intuitive, Visual, Global  All students ◦ ACT: 1A, SNS: 3A, VIS: 5A, SEQ: 3A ◦ Active, Sensing, Visual, Sequential  Some college-specific differences ◦ Faculty  CDM (Reflective, Sensing, Verbal, Global)  Commerce (Reflective, Intuitive, Visual, Global) ◦ Students  CDM (Reflective, Sensing, Visual, Sequential)  Commerce (Active, Sensing, Visual, Sequential)

8.  All students ◦ (Active) Study in a group to compensate for a lack of active learning in the classroom ◦ (Sensing) Ask the instructor for specific examples and how the concepts apply in practice ◦ (Sequential) Ask the instructor to fill in missing steps and outline material in a logical order when studying  CDM students ◦ (Visual) Find diagrams, schematics, or flow charts to aid understanding of course material

9.  The Index of Learning Styles ◦ http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder /public/ILSpage.html http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder /public/ILSpage.html  Survey of learning styles ◦ Felder and Brent (2005), “Understanding Student Differences”, Journal of Engineering Education, 94:1. ◦ http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder /public/Papers/Understanding_Differences.pdf http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder /public/Papers/Understanding_Differences.pdf  More information about our study: ◦ Amber Settle: asettle@cdm.depaul.eduasettle@cdm.depaul.edu ◦ Tom Berry: tberry@depaul.edutberry@depaul.edu