The effects of preferred learning style variables on student motivation, academic achievement, and course completion rates in distance education

Date

1990-12

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Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

Conti (1985) and Fox (1984) have focused on three factors that have been identified as being critical to the design and delivery of effective distance education instruction. Specifically, those components are: (1) the learning styles of students; (2) teachers' abilities, interests, and teaching styles; and (3) curriculum content, processes, and methodological objectives. A precise match among these three components is suggested to result in the "ideal" teaching-learning situation (Renzulli 6e Smith, 1978). In light of this information, the present study was designed to determine differences in students' achievement of course content, course completion rate, and attitudes ^T-Tabout learning due to variables associated with their instructional environment and their individual learning styles. Thus the following questions present the two major issues explored in this study. 1) How do learning variables in an on-campus and an off-campus distance education classroom affect student achievement of course content, course completion rates, and attitudes about learning? 2) How do individual learning style preferences influence student achievement of course content, course completion rate, and attitudes about learning for students in an on-campus and off-campus distance education classroom?

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