A Correlational Study of Emerging Modalities of Developmental Education and Learning Styles in a Florida State College.

Developmental education course modalities in Florida were drastically changed in 2013 with the passage of Senate Bill 1720. These courses can no longer be offered in a traditional 16-week format as other postsecondary courses are offered. Developmental education courses must now be offered in a compressed, contextualized, or corequisite instruction modality; or direct enrollment into a gateway course (1720-Education, 2013). This changes the student\u27s experience in the courses. This research was framed by Kolb\u27s experiential learning theory, which states that people learn through their experiences (Kolb, 1984). Chi-Square correlational tests were conducted to examine the relationship between students\u27 learning types and their final grades in an accelerated developmental math course and in a combined developmental math course. The results indicate no statistically significant relationships between the variables in both modalities of developmental math. Furthermore, students were surveyed on their preferences of the developmental math modalities. The results showed positive preferences toward both modalities of developmental math. With the limited amount of research in the area of developmental math modalities, this research helps to further understand the area and provides a basis for future research