The effect of learning style accommodation on university foodservice employees\u27 computer aversion and learning outcomes using multimedia computer -based training

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of two employee-training methods upon learning transfer and aversion to computer based training (CBT) and the relationship to individual learning styles. Learning styles were assessed using Bernice McCarthy\u27s Learning Type Measure (LTM®). Computer aversion was determined using a modified version of Scott Meier\u27s Computer Aversion Scale©. Knowledge transfer was measured using a 25-question, multiple choice, competency-based skill exam. The training concept taught was foodservice customer service. The three-phase study consisted of a pre-test, post-test, control design. Phase 1 was an initial survey to determine subjects\u27 pre-test computer based training aversion, skill knowledge level, individual learning styles, and demographics. Phase 2 consisted of three workplace-training interventions. Training intervention one (TI-1) used the multimedia CD-ROM Check Please!: Performance Training for Restaurant Servers© . The second intervention (TI-2) consisted of a constructivist-based module designed to accommodate the four McCarthy\u27 learning styles—Imaginative, Analytic, Common Sense, and Dynamic. McCarthy\u27s work is based on David Kolb\u27s cycle of learning. The third intervention (TI-3) was that of no training, and used as a control group. Subjects received the identical phase 1 computer aversion and skill knowledge measurement in the Phase 3 post-test survey. Eighty full-time, part-time and student midwestem university foodservice workers participated in this study. Correlations between learning types, pre-, post-test computer aversion and learning were assessed; followed by a MANOVA test for training intervention effect. Preferred learning types were analyzed for demographic differences, and relation to the two criterion measures. Age, gender and age-gender interaction, with education level controlled, were determined by an ANCOVA statistic. Results of this study concluded that both the CD-ROM and 4MAT ® process significantly impacted learning transfer and computer aversion, with learning making the largest discriminant contribution. The use of computer based training did not highly influence computer aversion; and preferred learning type did not appear to influence learning transfer or change in computer aversion