Learning Style Preferences among Pre-clinical Medical Students in a Public University in Pahang

Abstract

Educational experts affirm that students prefer various type of learning preference. It is known that the learning style preferences vary among medical students worldwide. Knowing the types will help medical educators to improve their way of conveying lectures and teaching in a more effective learning environment. This study aims to describe the learning style preferences of pre-clinical medical students and the association with their socio-demography. This is a cross sectional study done among Year 1 and Year 2 pre-clinical year medical students in a public university in Kuantan Pahang. Medical students who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited using systematic random sampling. A validated learning style questionnaire (VARK) was used to assess their learning style. Descriptive statistics and bivariable analysis was used using SPSS version 23. A total of 166 pre-clinical year medical students participated in this study. The mean age was 21.3 (0.84). Majority of them were Malays (98.2%) and females (69.9%). Most of the students preferred unimodal learning style (80.0%) with the most preferred learning style preferences being kinaesthetic (39.1%). Bivariable analysis showed female students preferred kinesthetic learning style compared to male students (p=0.03). In this study, majority of the pre-clinical year medical students preferred ‘life-like’ learning experience in their study. Hence, we recommend that medical educators to be more aware of the varieties of learning style preferences in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning experiences.

A Comparative Questionnaire-based Study on Learning Styles and Studying Resources among Undergraduate Medical Students in Public and Private Universities

“…Another study by Ojeh et al, among preclinical medical students in Barbados (2014) using the validated VARK questionnaire, showed that most preclinical medicals students are multimodal learners [10]. Furthermore, similar conclusions on learning styles have been reported by other studies [11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…In view of this, one of the important factors for applicable education is to look at students' learning styles at the start of every academic year and apply pertinent instructing technique accordingly [11]. In light of this, while comparing a public (OIU) university with a private one (UMST), the preferred learning modality for OIU students was found to be aural which is not the same as preferred learning method (kinesthetic) found in a public University by Jmanai et al [14]. With regards to UMST, the results were also not in line with that of Joshi et al In their study, which was done in a private university, it was found that the preferred learning style was multimodal [15], which contradicts the results obtained in this study, in which the dominant style was unimodal (Read/Write).…”

Determining Ergonomic Appraisal Factors Affecting the Learning Motivation and Academic Performance of Students during Online Classes

“…Additionally, prior research has shown that pupils who learn in a setting conducive to learning are more motivated and engaged and possess more vital general learning skills [95,96]. As explained from the article by Nirmal et al [21], online learners have differences in body pains depending on the device used in online learning. They found that leg pains are significant among laptop users compared to mobile and desktop users.…”

“…The students struggle with various issues, including a lack of motivation and diminished concentration. It was also revealed that, due to the alteration in online learning systems, students must adjust to various learning styles [20,21]. Thus, the student's learning strategies have been impacted due to some problems with online education.…”

Learning Analysis with ARIAS Model on Students' Critical Thinking Skills Reviewed from Learning Styles

“…The learning style is a collaboration of how the person understands and processes all the information obtained (Mokodompit et al, 2020). The lack of harmony between the learning styles of students and teachers tends to make students depressed, bored, and unable to focus in the classroom to get less satisfactory results (Jamani et al, 2020).…”