Learning Styles Modelling

As discussed in Section 2.2.2 (―learning style theories‖), the definitions of learning styles are very complex which lead to numerous ways of categorizing learning styles such as [85,96,132]. A categorization of learning styles is usually named as a model of learning styles. In order to describe students‘ learning styles, the Felder- Silverman learning style model (FSLSM) [61] is used in the proposed iGLS approach. Before discussing how this model is applied in the learning styles modelling component, a brief description of the FSLSM is presented below.

41

Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model (FSLSM)

FSLSM was initially proposed by Felder and Silverman in 1988 based on their expertise in educational psychology and experience in engineering education. The original model contained five dimensions of learning styles. Recently, this model has been modified. The current FSLSM include four dimensions of learning styles: sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, active/reflective, and sequential/global. The review of the impact of learning styles on group collaboration (in Section 2.2.3) revealed that the active and reflective are the most influential learning styles that impact on group work [7,60,61]. Therefore, the proposed learning styles modelling component attempts to incorporate the active/reflective dimension of the FSLSM model for describing students‘ learning styles.

The ‗active/reflective‘ dimension of FSLSM describes the way people convert perceived information into knowledge. Active learners prefer to learn by doing something with the information — discussing, or explaining it to others. Reflective learners prefer to review the information introspectively. More information about this dimension can be referred to [61].

Each dimension of FSLSM measures learning styles in a score between -11 and 11, increasing or decreasing 2 points in every step. All the negative values represent the scores of the active dimension and all the positive values correspond to the scores of the reflective dimension. The scale for the active/reflective dimension of the FSLSM model is illustrated in Figure 3.3.

42 Figure 3.3. The active/reflective dimension of the FSLSM model

Using a scale between -11 and 11, strong and weak preferences of learning styles on a single dimension of FSLSM can be measured. If the score is valued between -3 and 3, a well balanced preference on the two styles of a dimension is indicated. If the score is valued in {-7, -5, 5, 7}, a moderate preference on the two styles of this dimension is revealed. Moreover, if the score is valued in {-11, -9, 9, 11}, a strong preference on the two styles of this dimension is shown.

There are several reasons for adopting the FSLSM model. First, FSLSM includes a dimension for identifying the active/reflective learning styles while most other learning style models do not. Second, compared with other models that contain active/reflective learning styles, FSLSM provides a sliding scale supporting a richer classification of students‘ styles which is more flexible than bipolar models for the balancing of learning styles in the iGLS approach. Third, FSLSM adopts the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire [62] for measuring the described learning styles and the ILS questionnaire is shorter than the instruments used by most other models that contain the active/reflective styles such as [85] and [96]. The ILS questionnaire contains only 44 questions for measuring four pairs of learning styles while the instruments for most other models require more than 20 questions for identifying one pair of learning styles. Since students are more likely to respond to a shorter questionnaire, the ILS questionnaire is more acceptable by most students. Finally, FSLSM has become popular in technology-enhanced

-11 -9 -7 -5 -3 -1 1 3 5 7 9 11

43 learning. Some researchers even argue that FSLSM is the most suitable learning styles model in technology-enhanced learning [41,98].

A Questionnaire-based Approach for Learning Styles Modelling

As mentioned above, a questionnaire, namely ILS, is proposed by [62] to measure the learning styles categorized in the FSLSM model. The ILS questionnaire is adopted by the learning styles modelling component to acquire learning style scores from individual students. This is because a questionnaire-based approach for modelling students‘ learning styles is efficient and flexible and most current learning styles models adopt a questionnaire-based approach to measure students‘ learning styles. Moreover, the ILS questionnaire has been examined to be reliable and valid for assessing the learning styles categorized in the FSLSM model [63,108].

The ILS questionnaire consists of a total of 44 two-choice questions. These questions can be divided into four groups each of which comprises 11 questions. Each group is associated with one dimension of the FSLSM model. As only the active/reflective dimension of the FSLSM model is considered in the proposed iGLS approach, the group of questions that corresponds to the active/reflective styles in the ILS questionnaire is extracted to construct the questionnaire for the learning styles modelling component. This group of questions include 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, 29, 33, 37 and 41 (question number). These questions are manually grouped together according to the similarity of semantics on the active/reflective dimension of styles. For example, the questions 1 and 5 seek for the characteristic of ―trying something out‖ for the active style and for the characteristic of ―think

44 about material‖ for the reflective style. The constructed questionnaire for the learning styles modelling is referred to as the learning style questionnaire (LSQ).

In the LSQ, each question includes two options (‗a‘ or ‗b‘). The option ‗a‘ represents the active style while the option ‗b‘ corresponds to the reflective style. The learning style score on the active/reflective dimension can be computed by subtracting the responses of ‗a‘ from that of ‗b‘, which is an odd integer between - 11 and 11. For example, if a student responds to the LSQ with 10 ‗a‘ and 1 ‗b‘, his learning style score is equal to -9. This calculated score indicates the student has a strong active style on the active/reflective dimension of the FSLSM model. The learning style scores obtained from the LSQ for individual students can be used in the proposed grouping algorithm for the process of group formation. It is compulsory for students to complete the LSQ before a grouping process starts. This is to ensure that the learning style scores of all the students who need to be grouped are obtained and the grouping process is successfully completed.