Learning styles and achievement of students at Universitas Terbuka (Indonesian Open Learning University)
Date
1993
Authors
Priadnyana, Ida Ketut
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Abstract
Universitas Terbuka (Indonesian Open Leaming University) provides learning environments to its students which are related to its role as an educational institution that applies distance education systems. Many researches have been conducted relating learning styles and academic achievement, but not many have used the distance education setting. This study was conducted both to identify students' responses on Kalb's Learning-Style Inventory (Kalb's LSI) and to measure the relationship between these responses and academic achievement.
Two hundred and sixteen students of the four faculties of Universitas Terbuka responded to the inventory. Between faculties, the students were significantly different in emphasizing three of the four basic scores (Concrete Experience=CE, Abstract Conceptualization=AC, and Active Experimentation=AE, p <.05) and the composite scores (AC-CE and AE-RO, p <.05) . The non-significant difference was on Reflective Observation (RO). The differences on CE, AC, and ACĀ-CE were mainly between students of the Faculty of Social and Political Science and students of the other faculties. The differences on AE and AE-RO were between education students and the other students. Within each faculty and within the total sample, only students of the Faculty of Social and Political Science did not differentiate the four basic scores significantly. All students tended to score higher on the AC than they did on the other scores, except for education students who scored higher on AE.
Distribution of learning styles was significantly dependent on faculty. The majority of students of three faculties and the total sample were assimilators. The exception was that the majority of education students were convergers.
The significant differences on academic achievement were not associated with learning styles and faculties. Higher achievement levels were likely related to higher scores on AC (significant in Mathematics and in the total sample). Higher achievement levels which were related to higher scores on RO were found only in Social and Political Science. Education students tended to have higher achievement levels than did students of the other faculties.
The similarities between faculties found in this study (non differentiation on RO and higher on AC) were likely related to the learning environment at Universitas Terbuka. Relating LSI scores and the cognitive processes employed in learning will be helpful in understanding students' achievement at Universitas Terbuka.
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UN SDG 4: Quality Education