Learning styles of the undergraduate nursing students

ABSTRACT

The student population in universities is very diverse ranging ages, experiences cultures, level of preparedness and learning styles. This diversity presents academic with increasing challenges to motivate and promote student understanding. In recent years increased attention has been directed toward assessing and improving academic quality and enhancing learning opportunities in higher education in Egypt. [Helal 2008]. The phrase learning style refers to the method one's uses to obtain and use information to learn. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory was used to assess preferences for learning styles. KoIb Learning style inventory [LSI] remains one of the most widely distributed instruments used in higher education, since it is based on a wounded theoretical base of Experiential learning theory [Honigsfeld and Schiering, 2004 and KoIb 2007]. Identify the dominant learning style of the undergraduate nursing students. This study is a descriptive study. The study done at Faculty of Nursing Ain Shams University. A total of 210 undergraduate nursing students were included in the study [54 male and 156 female]. The mean age of the study group was [21.3 +/- 2.8] years. Regarding the student's learning mode the higher score obtained in the stage cycle of learning for the first, second, third and fourth year students was [AE] active experimentation or 'doing'. The concrete experience [CE] or "feeling" was the last learning stage cycle preferences selected by the first, second, and third year students. Fourth year students second stage of learning cycle was abstract conceptualization [AC] or "thinking" and their last choice was reflective observation or [RO] "watching". The results of[AC-RO] indicate that the student's dominant learning dimension was processing dimension. The dominant learning style for the first, second and fourth year students was "converge" which and "accommodator" for the third year students. There was a statistical significant difference amongstudents regarding their learning style. Undergraduate nursing students vary in their learning style. The four Kolb learning styles were represented among the study sample. The processing dimension is the dominant learning dimension among undergraduate nursing students and the majority of the undergraduate nursing students in the study sample were "converger". Further research in the field of students learning still needed using a larger sample size