AN ANALYSIS OF LEARNING STYLES OF DISTANCE LEARNERS AT THE

Presently, no information could be obtained on the learning styles of distance learners as it has not been studied before. A study was carried out to identify the learning styles of distance learners at the Institute of Education Development, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. Felder’s Learning Styles Index (LSI) was used in the study. Results of the study were used to make comparison and correlation analyses between learning styles and academic achievement, programme of studies, gender and income. One hundred and sixty two students responded to the online questionnaire. The study showed that 35.5 % students preferred visual learning style followed by 29.6 % sensory, 14.2 % active, 0% verbal and 2.5 % intuitive. The male students were found dominant in visual learning style as compared to the females who were sensory dominant. The students who were majors in banking tended towards sensory style as compared to finance and business studies students who were inclined towards visual style. While the mass communication and public administration students dominated in visual and sensory styles. The higher income students preferred more visual style as compared to the middle income who were dominant in both visual and sensory. The higher achievers were found to be better disposed towards visual as compared to low achievers who were sensory dominant in style. The learning styles were not significantly different between genders, programme of studies and semesters. It was also found that there was no significant relationship between learning styles and academic achievement. This paper discusses in detail the implications of the various learning styles on students of distance mode of education