MEASURING LEARNING STYLES AND LEARNING STIMULUS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

This study examines learning styles and learning stimulus among secondary school students in Malaysia.  A total of 50 students from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Ungku Aziz, Sabak Bernam in Selangor were interviewed to measure student’s different styles. The adapted version of Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles Inventory were used as in this study.  The findings showed that majority students preferred on grouping learning styles (M=4.07), visual learning styles (M= 3.88), auditory learning styles (M=3.66), individual learning styles (M=3.61) and kinesthetic learning styles (M= 4.07) respectively. Based on the findings, several suggestions have been made to enhance the academic achievement for students. The results of this study provide useful information for teachers and students which are important for the process of learning

Pre-Design for Primary School Active Learning Module: A Triadic Reciprocal Needs Analysis Framework

This paper presents a framework to analyse students’ learning needs in Malaysia primary school active learning based on the conceptualisation of theorists’ ideas. The needs analysis framework is a good reference for module designing and active learning implementation by clarifying learners’ needs through a triadic reciprocal approach, using theories that draw on the perspective of personal development (constructivism), self-regulation, and environment (ecology). These three perspectives build up a holistic needs analysis framework to discover the needs, potential, and constraint of the active learning route (learning process) in Malaysian primary schools. The needs analysis “route” in the framework contains the criterion available (external feature – ecology / the condition of active learning situation), the existing feature within the pupils’ mind (internal feature – personal development/knowledge, skills, and strategies), and the pupils’ motivation for engaging (bridging of external and internal features – self-regulation). It explains how needs analysis can highlight the potential of full-scale active learning investigation of learners’ needs from the interrelation of internal and external features. The discussion can be generalised to invite future research by providing a firm active learning theoretical foundation, a conceptual lens for active learning needs analysis, and prospects of active learning instructional and pedagogical interventions

Interchangeable Concept of Cognitive Styles and Learning Styles: a Conceptual Analysis

Inquiries into the nature and effects of cognitive and learning style constructs are mounting daily, regardless of criticism and confusion about the boundaries, natures and to some extent overlapping issues of these two constructs. These issues raise several questions about the credibility of these two constructs with regard to further research, application and development. Therefore, there is a need to crystallize their natures to pave the way for further research and for a better understanding of individual's learning. The current scientific review strengthens the concept of these two constructs as separate and independent, each contributing in its own way to different fields of human learning. Both constructs have different histories and schools of thought directed toward different ends. The relationship of these constructs undeniably establishes their usefulness and value as research subjects. However, specific concerns is required in defining cognitive and learning styles which may hinder the credibility and usefulness of further research, including valid and reliable measurements, cohesive theory, application oriented studies, use of multiple methods in research, and the origin and development of these constructs. This article explores the discourse in these fields and highlights potential issues with the constructs to assist researchers in constructing a more comprehensive understanding of the research framework

The Impact of Learner Control on E-Learning Effectiveness: Towards a Theoretical Model

E-learning systems are changing education and organizational training considerably. With the advancement of online-based learning systems, learner control of the instructional process has emerged as a decisive factor inherent to technology-based learning. However, the conceptual work on the role of learner control in e-learning has not advanced sufficiently to predict how learner control impacts e-learning effectiveness. To extend the research on the role of learner control in e-learning, we derive a conceptual framework as a reference model, which is based on cognitive and motivational learning theories. We then apply our framework to review 58 articles on learner control during the period 1996-2013. Our findings reveal how different individual characteristics, as well as the characteristics of the course and learning environment moderate the impact of learner control on learning effectiveness. Our analysis provides new insight into the role of learner control for e-learning effectiveness, as well as directions for further research

Tourism Marketing in a Metaverse Context: the New Reality of European Museums on Meta

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Museum Management and Curatorship on 10 May 2023, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09647775.2023.2209841[Abstract] The “contactless” culture established after COVID-19 and the development of metaverse technologies, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, blockchain and artificial intelligence, serve as vectors of change in museum tourism. Contactless behaviours have forced European museums to reconfigure and strengthen their digital communication and marketing strategies, mainly through social media and audiovisual content, to connect with their audience by virtual means only. This experience has laid the foundations for hybrid communication (physical and virtual) by museums and acted as a pilot experience for their activities in the metaverse of the future. The aim of this research is to analyse the online tourism communication strategies implemented by 20 European museums through Facebook (Meta) in times of COVID-19. The results show the effect of lockdown on patterns of consumption and interaction, and the impact of message content and format on user engagement and participation.This article was supported by the iMARKA research group from University of A Coruña. This article is part of the R&D project Digital-native media in Spain: Strategies, competencies, social involvement and (re)definition of practices in journalistic production and diffusion (PID2021-122534OB-C21), funded by MCIN / AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and by ‘ERDF A way of making Europe

Animation as an aid to support the teaching of cyber security concepts

Animated learning materials have the potential to support the teaching and learning process. In this paper, we examine the comparative usefulness of animated and static learning materials for teaching cyber security concepts to a group of UK undergraduate computer science students. The animated cyber security learning materials appeared to be viewed by the undergraduate computer science participants overall as being slightly more informative than the equivalent static learning materials for learning some cyber security concepts

Is it really a neuromyth? A meta-analysis of the learning styles matching hypothesis

Learning styles have been a contentious topic in education for years. The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis of the effects of matching instruction to modality learning styles compared to unmatched instruction on learning outcomes. A systematic search of the research findings yielded 21 eligible studies with 101 effect sizes and 1,712 participants for the meta-analysis. Based on robust variance estimation, there was an overall benefit of matching instruction to learning styles, g = 0.31, SE = 0.12, 95% CI = [0.05, 0.57], p = 0.02. However, only 26% of learning outcome measures indicated matched instruction benefits for at least two styles, indicating a crossover interaction supportive of the matching hypothesis. In total, 12 studies without sufficient statistical details for the meta-analysis were also examined for an indication of a crossover effect; 25% of these studies had findings indicative of a crossover interaction. Given the time and financial expenses of implementation coupled with low study quality, the benefits of matching instruction to learning styles are interpreted as too small and too infrequent to warrant widespread adoption

Gender imbalance in instructional dynamic versus static visualizations

Studies comparing the instructional effectiveness of dynamic versus static visualizations have produced mixed results. In this work, we investigated whether gender imbalance in the participant samples of these studies may have contributed to the mixed results. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized experiments in which groups of students learning through dynamic visualizations were compared to groups receiving static visualizations. Our sample focused on tasks that could be categorized as either biologically secondary tasks (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics: STEM) or biologically primary tasks (manipulative–procedural). The meta-analysis of 46 studies (82 effect sizes and 5474 participants) revealed an overall small-sized effect (g+ = 0.23) showing that dynamic visualizations were more effective than static visualizations. Regarding potential moderators, we observed that gender was influential: the dynamic visualizations were more effective on samples with less females and more males (g+ = 0.36). We also observed that educational level, learning domain, media compared, and reporting reliability measures moderated the results. We concluded that because many visualization studies have used samples with a gender imbalance, this may be a significant factor in explaining why instructional dynamic and static visualizations seem to vary in their effectiveness. Our findings also support considering the gender variable in research about cognitive load theory and instructional visualizations

Avaliação de uma hipermídia educacional sobre as fases da lua

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação Científica e Tecnológica, Florianópolis, 2014.Apresentam-se neste trabalho os resultados da avaliação da hipermídia educacional  As Fases da Lua , material didático digital elaborado para auxiliar no processo de ensino-aprendizagem das fases e dos movimentos lunares. Este recurso educacional foi concebido utilizando-se o conceito de objeto de aprendizagem digital e teve como principais norteadores teóricos, a teoria da carga cognitiva e aspectos sobre o papel da visualização no ensino de ciências. Parte-se da premissa de que a elaboração de modelos, analogias com a exploração de recursos multimídia pode fornecer suporte visual e auxiliar a aprendizagem. Entende-se a avaliação como necessária, para que seja analisada a capacidade instrucional e para que se faça um uso adequado deste recurso. Neste sentido, a avaliação foi realizada a partir de duas abordagens: uma orientada ao produto e outra orientada ao usuário. Na abordagem orientada ao produto, especialistas em astronomia (professores universitários pesquisadores em astrofísica e alunos de pós-graduação em astrofísica) avaliaram a sua qualidade educacional. Essa avaliação obteve um resultado amplamente positivo. Na abordagem orientada ao usuário, utilizou-se o recurso didático em um ambiente real de aprendizagem e foram analisados a percepção dos alunos quanto ao seu uso e os resultados de aprendizagem referentes aos conceitos apresentados. A hipermídia  As Fases da Lua foi utilizada em momentos não presenciais de uma disciplina introdutória de física de um curso de nível universitário na área de ciências exatas onde participaram 77 estudantes. A percepção dos alunos quanto ao uso da hipermídia foi investigada através de um questionário aplicado pelo professor da disciplina. Na percepção deles, a hipermídia auxilia na aprendizagem do fenômeno. Os resultados de aprendizagem foram obtidos a partir de análise quantitativa e qualitativa de questões extraídas de um pré-teste, de um pós-teste e de uma avaliação de aprendizagem aplicados pelo professor da disciplina. Eles são expressivos. A melhoria na aprendizagem obtida é de 33%. Numa análise qualitativa, foi possível identificar também a efetividade do material como objeto de promoção da visualização e, consequentemente, mediador da aprendizagem dos fenômenos estudados. Infere-se que as características instrucionais do material podem ter contribuído efetivamente para os resultados obtidos.Abstract : In this work are presented the results of the evaluation of an educational hypermedia named "Phases of the Moon", a digital instructional material designed to assist in the teaching and learning of lunar phases and movements. This educational resource was designed adopting the concept of digital learning object and its main guiding theories, the theory of cognitive load and aspects about the role of visualization in science teaching. We assume that the development of models, analogies with the exploration of multimedia resources can provide visual support and aid learning. It is understood the hypermedia evaluation as necessary, to analyze its instructional capacity and in order to do a proper use of this resource. In this sense, the evaluation was performed adopting two approaches: one directed to the product and other user - oriented. In the product - oriented approach, experts in Astronomy (academics and researchers in Astrophysics) evaluated positively their educational quality. In the user - oriented approach, we used the teaching resource in a real learning environment and the students' perceptions were inferred regarding their usage and learning outcomes related to concepts presented by the material. The hypermedia ?Phases of the Moon? was used in a non face -to -face moment of an undergraduate introductory cours e in Physics, in the field of exact sciences in which 77 students participated. The students' perception on the use of hypermedia was investigated through a questionnaire administered by the subject teacher . In their perception hypermedia supports learning. The learning outcomes were obtained from quantitative and qualitative analysis of issues drawn from a pre - test, a posttest anda learning assessment applied by the subject teacher in 2011. They are expressive. The improvement in learning obtained aft er the use of the material is 33 % . In a qualitative analysis was also possible to identify the effectiveness of the material as an object of promoting viewing and thus a learning mediator of the phenomenon in question. It is inferred that the instructional material characteristics may have contributed effectively to the results

Macht der kognitive Stil einen Unterschied?: Folgen verschiedener Visualisierungsarten und Modalitäten für den Lernerfolg in Bezug auf den visuellen und verbalen kognitiven Stil

This doctoral thesis is based on three quantitative studies conducted on 464 participants. The main goal was to investigate the role of visual-verbal cognitive style when learning with dynamic and non-dynamic learning materials. The first study revealed important differences regarding the way in which visualizers and verbalizers observe static picture/text combinations in order to learn from them. That is to say that visualizers concentrated mostly on pictures while verbalizers on texts, exhibiting an active way of learning but mostly within textual (verbalizers) or pictorial (visualizers) areas of stimuli. Contradictory to expectations, visualizers did not directly show any supremacy in dealing with pictures, as they did not identify relevant areas sooner than verbalizers. Indirectly though, the results confirmed that verbalizers are less proficient in decoding pictorial information, as they switched to non-informative parts of it sooner than visualizers. Although the retention test did not show any differences on learning outcomes between both groups, visualizers achieved better results on a comprehension test. The results of the second study confirmed that, when learning with system controlled multimedia environments, spoken explanatory narration brings better results than a written one does. Additionally, an influence of the visual cognitive style on learning with written explanatory text was found. That is, when using a combination of static pictures and written text, higher visual cognitive style comes along with better learning outcome. On the other hand, a combination of higher visual cognitive style, animation and written modality of explanations results in deterioration of learning outcome. The study did not provide any significant results regarding an influence of verbal cognitive style on learning. In the third study the issues of learner/ system control were addressed, when learning with spoken modality of explanatory text. The results revealed that spoken modality design yielded better outcomes when learning in system-paced design rather than self-paced and with animation rather than static pictures. In the group of highly developed visualizers though, the combination of static pictures, self-pacing and spoken narration led to a decline of learning outcomes and to cognitive overload. Again, there were no significant results regarding the verbal cognitive style. The results of the three studies support the assumption of an important role of cognitive style in learning. They indicate a moderating role of visual cognitive style when learning with dynamic and non-dynamic multimedia. This role depends on the design (self-controlled, system-controlled) and modality of explanations (spoken, written) though. Additionally, the differences in gaze patterns between visualizers and verbalizers shed more light on the way in which these two groups of learners retrieve information from multimedia materials. This doctoral research makes a contribution to theoretical research on multimedia learning and cognitive styles, as well as to practical implications on learning materials’ design and efficient education.Diese Dissertation umfasst drei quantitative Studien mit insgesamt 464 Teilnehmern. Dabei war das Hauptziel, die Rolle visueller und verbaler kognitiver Stile beim Lernen mit dynamischen und nicht-dynamischen Lernmaterialien zu untersuchen. Die erste Studie enthüllte deutliche Unterschiede in Bezug auf die Art und Weise, in welcher Visualisierer und Verbalisierer statische Bild/Text-Kombinationen analysieren, um von diesen zu lernen. Konkret konzentrieren sich Visualisierer primär auf die Bilder, wohingegen Verbalisierer eher auf die Texte fokussieren. Lernende beider Typen weisen jedoch dabei eine aktive Art des Lernens innerhalb ihrer präferierten Stimuli auf. Entgegen der Erwartungen zeigten Visualisierer jedoch keine Überlegenheit im Umgang mit Bildern im Vergleich zu Verbalisierern, da sie keine schnellere und effektivere Identifikation relevanter Bereiche innerhalb der Bilder erzielten. Indirekt bestätigen jedoch die Ergebnisse, dass Verbalisierer weniger Kompetenzen im Umgang mit Bildinformationen aufwiesen, da sie schneller auf die nicht-informativen Bereiche der Bilder wechselten als die Visualisierer. Obwohl der Wissenstest in Bezug auf den Lernerfolg keine Unterschiede zwischen den beiden Gruppen zeigte, erreichten die Visualisierer bessere Resultate im Verständnistest. Die Ergebnisse der zweiten Studie bestätigten, dass beim Lernen mit einer multimedialen, nichtinteraktiven Lernumgebung eine auditive Erklärung zu besseren Lernergebnissen führt als ein schriftlich dargebotener Text. Zudem konnte ein Einfluss des visuellen kognitiven Stils auf das Lernen mit Texten aufgezeigt werden. Dieser stellt sich durch die Tatsache dar, dass Personen mit einem ausgeprägteren visuellen kognitiven Stil einen besseren Lernerfolg erzielen, wenn eine Kombination aus statischen Bildern und geschriebenem Text verwendet wird. Andererseits kann jedoch eine Kombination aus einem ausgeprägten visuellen kognitiven Stil, Animationen und auditiven Erklärungen wiederum zu einer Verschlechterung des Lernerfolgs führen. Die Studie konnte jedoch keine signifikanten Ergebnisse in Bezug auf den Einfluss verbaler kognitiver Stile auf das Lernen nachweisen. In der dritten Studie ging es um den Einfluss interaktiver Kontrollelemente (selbstgesteuert vs. systemgesteuert) beim Lernen mit auditiven Erklärungen oder schriftlichen Texten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass auditive Erklärungen zu besseren Lernerfolgen führt, wenn systemgesteuert statt selbstgesteuert (also nicht-interaktiv) gelernt wird. Zudem zeigte in diesem Fall die Verwendung von Animationen bessere Resultate als die von statischen Bildern. In der Gruppe der „Visualisierer“ mit ausgeprägtem visuellen kognitiven Stil führte die Kombination von statischen Bildern, selbstgesteuertem Design und auditiv dargebotenen Informationen hingegen zu einer kognitiven Überlastung und einem Rückgang der Lernerfolge. Auch in dieser Studie gab es keine signifikanten Ergebnisse in Bezug auf den verbalen kognitiven Stil. Die Ergebnisse der drei Studien unterstützen die Annahme, dass der kognitive Stil eine wichtige Rolle beim Lernen spielt. Insbesondere der visuelle kognitive Stil scheint einen moderierenden Einfluss beim Lernen mit dynamischen und nicht-dynamischen Medien auszuüben. Dieser Einfluss hängt dabei vom Design (selbstgesteuert vs. systemgesteuert) und der Modalität der Erklärungen (auditiv vs. textuell) ab. Zudem konnte durch die Analyse der Blickmuster zwischen Visualisierern und Verbalisierern ein erweitertes Verständnis darüber gewonnen werden, wie die beiden Gruppen unterschiedlich mit Informationen aus multimedialen Materialien umgehen. Diese Doktorarbeit leistet damit einen Beitrag zur theoretischen Forschung im Bereich des multimedialen Lernens und kognitiver Stile sowie zu praktischen Konsequenzen des Designs von Lernmaterialien zu effektiver Bildung