In this study, we investigated the relationship between
student performance and learning styles for students enrolled in a basic
business statistics course. This course
used a learner-centered approach that incorporated multiple teaching styles.
To assess our success in designing a course that facilitates learning for
all learning styles, we evaluated the impact of students’ learning style on
their performance in the course.
To accomplish this analysis, we utilized
quantile regression, a statistical
technique from the economics literature developed by Koenker and Bassett (1978)
that is an alternative to the classical ordinary least squares (OLS) regression.
Quantile regression allowed investigation of a more complete picture of
student performance over the entire population as opposed to the mean effect
from OLS regression.
Learning style was not significant in determining a
student’s overall course score for the entire cohort of students.
For small cohorts of students, learning styles were significant for exam
average. That is, some students
experienced either a disadvantage or advantage due to their learning style for
the exam course component. However,
for the overall course performance, a student with a particular learning style
was neither advantaged nor disadvantaged.
08-02 January 2008
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