Learning styles and access to virtual learning environments in the academic performance

Alves, Paulo; Miranda, Luísa; Morais, Carlos

Publication

Learning styles and access to virtual learning environments in the academic performance

2016Conference object

dc.contributor.author	Alves, Paulo
dc.contributor.author	Miranda, Luísa
dc.contributor.author	Morais, Carlos
dc.date.accessioned	2018-03-19T15:12:54Z
dc.date.available	2018-03-19T15:12:54Z
dc.date.issued	2016
dc.description.abstract	This study focuses on the issue regarding student-centred teaching and learning. Based on the acknowledgement of students’ learning styles, we tried to identify indicators which might enable us to relate students’ learning styles to academic performance results as well as to the frequency of use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) used by the institution which the sample subjects participating in this study belong to. The research questions guiding this study were as follows: Are there any relations between students’ learning styles and the frequency of accesses to the institution’s VLE? Are there any relations between students’ learning styles and academic performance? Are there any relations between the frequency of accesses to the institution’s VLE and students’ academic performance results? In order to answer the above research questions, we defined the following aims: identifying the sample subjects’ predominant style; assessing the influence of subjects’ learning styles on their learning results; assessing the influence of subjects’ learning styles on the frequency of access to the institution’s VLE; assessing the influence of the frequency of access to the VLE on learning results. This study enabled the identification of learning styles and the search for indicators which may allow the establishment of a relation between the learning styles of a sample of 51 undergraduates from a Portuguese public higher education degree course and their learning results, as well as the frequency of their access to the virtual learning environment (VLE). The data concerning learning results and the frequency of access to the VLE resulted directly from consulting the institution’s databases associated with the VLE, whereas the data regarding learning styles was obtained after conducting the Honey-Alonso CHAEA survey, also integrated in the institution’s VLE. From the results obtained stands out the fact that the majority of the sample subjects have a predominant reflexive learning style. As well as this, there are a high percentage of undergraduates with higher learning preferences in more than one style. With regard to academic performance, the results show that both the final classifications mean and the mean of the course units in which the students obtained a passing mark were higher among the students with a predominant reflexive learning style. The highest mean of the number of accesses to the VLE was observed among the students with a predominant pragmatist learning style. The correlation between the variables associated with the learning styles and the mean of students’ marks is low or very low in all situations. This study may reveal to be of great importance, as it enables the obtainment of indicators which facilitate the understanding of the relation between undergraduates’ learning styles and the use of VLEs within a formal teaching and learning context.	pt_PT
dc.description.version	info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion	pt_PT
dc.identifier.citation	Alves, Paulo; Miranda, Luísa; Morais, Carlos (2016). Learning styles and access to virtual learning environments in the academic performance. In 15th European Conference on e-Learning - ECEL 2016. Praga. ISBN 978-1-911218-18-0	pt_PT
dc.identifier.isbn	978-1-911218-18-0
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10198/16377
dc.language.iso	eng	pt_PT
dc.peerreviewed	yes	pt_PT
dc.publisher	Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited	pt_PT
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	pt_PT
dc.subject	Learning styles	pt_PT
dc.subject	Virtual learning environments	pt_PT
dc.subject	Academic performance	pt_PT
dc.title	Learning styles and access to virtual learning environments in the academic performance	pt_PT
dc.type	conference object
dspace.entity.type	Publication
oaire.citation.conferencePlace	Praga	pt_PT
oaire.citation.title	15th European Conference on e-Learning - ECEL 2016	pt_PT
person.familyName	Alves
person.familyName	Miranda
person.familyName	Morais
person.givenName	Paulo
person.givenName	Luísa
person.givenName	Carlos
person.identifier.ciencia-id	C319-FC42-5B6B
person.identifier.ciencia-id	F01E-0B29-326B
person.identifier.orcid	0000-0002-0100-8691
person.identifier.orcid	0000-0002-7553-6059
person.identifier.orcid	0000-0003-0537-0652
person.identifier.rid	N-6353-2013
person.identifier.rid	N-6354-2013
person.identifier.scopus-author-id	55834442100
person.identifier.scopus-author-id	49864068900
person.identifier.scopus-author-id	49863980800
rcaap.rights	openAccess	pt_PT
rcaap.type	conferenceObject	pt_PT
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