Feedback November 2002 (Vol 43 No 4)

CLASSROOMADAPTING DIGITAL LEARNING TOOLS TOSTUDENT LEARNING STYLESScott R. Olson, Ball State Universitysolson@bsu.eduAbstractInstructional media are used for a variety of reasons in the classroom, not all of themsound. The best use of instructional media design is one that takes into account thelearning styles of students. A model is proposed for adapting the media use to thelearning needs of the course.Good teachers seek continuous quality improvement of their teaching, and consequentlystrive to create learning environments that encourages critical thinking, teamwork, and problem solving, as well as covering course content. Research has shown thatstudents have different learning styles that require varied pedagogical and andragogicalstrategies to maximize student comprehension and retention. Unfortunately, the threecontact hours per week allotted to most courses are insufficient to encourage extensivecritical thinking, team work, and problem solving and still cover the content expectedin our courses. Current configurations of university classrooms and scheduling do notpermit more of the traditional type of contact hours. Simultaneously, some Internetclassroom projects are administrator-driven and reflect a desire to deliver instructionmore cheaply and/or to downsize or transform the faculty. These are often accomplishedthrough “Internet only” courses. These courses often do not reflect the bestknowledge and learning design from a faculty member’s perspective.Nevertheless, the Internet provides an inexpensive and available means of extendingcourse functions in time and space, of promoting critical thinking, teamwork, andproblem solving while addressing different learning styles. Not only that, but theprocess of using the Internet provides an interesting opportunity for classroom reflectionon the communication process (Jackson and Madison, 1999). Faculty-drivenInternet solutions are animated by a desire to enrich existing classroom environments,not replace them.Learning Styles and the ClassroomStudents bring forward a diversity of learning styles to our classrooms (see Krendl,Warren, & Reid, 1997):• Visual learning, which includes both written and iconic modes;• Auditory, which includes listening to lectures and engaging in discussions;• Experiential, which includes engaging in “real-world” modeling, simulations, andcase studies; and• Kinesthesic, which includes motion and movement.32Feedback November 2002 (Vol. 43, No. 4)