A Survey for Need Assessment to Classify Learning Styles of Students Studying in Master Degree Programs at Universities

Abstract

Students’ learning is highly subjective owing to their individual differences, environment and background which decide their learning styles. The purpose of this study was to explore learning styles of university students owing to generic role in their learning. There is need to assess whether students of different universities with different backgrounds but with same discipline prefer same or different learning styles. Four general universities were selected; two from each, public sector and privatesector.314 students were involved in the study from selected universities. A questionnaire was developed in the light of
literature to explore learning styles of students mainly based on Grasha Reichmann Learning Style Survey (1974). Survey research design was
used to collect data. The number of students against every learning style
was calculated through statistical distribution. To infer the significance
of results, t-test and ANOVA were applied. The findings showed that
learning styles were closely linked gender wise. Further, there was no
vast difference in learning styles of the students in respect of public and
private sector universities. Subject based results are generally aligned but
there are variations in couple of subjects like mass communication. The
study concludes that students use variety of learning styles in different
situations. If teacher used teaching style compatible to preferred students
learning style then they would take more interest in the lesson and learn
better.