Health Care : Current Reviews

Alignment of Educational Delivery and Learning Experience of Nursing Students through Understanding Variations in Learning Styles

Jocelyn B. Hipona ¹Far Eastern University, Philippines

Received: 15-Dec-2020 Published: 26-Jan-2021, DOI: 10.35248/2375-4273.21.9.267

Learning style varies on a person’s learning inclinations to apprehend, to consolidate, to process information and to acknowledge learning experiences thus, each learners’ have different learning strategies as they have distinctive individual differences. Different approaches to learning have been proposed to determine the students’ learning styles, Kolb’s learning style for example is said to be one of the most prominent methods use by educators. Kolb define learning as a creation of knowledge through experiences (Kolb and Kolb, 2005).

In view of the important role of learning styles in learning and academic achievement, the present study aims to determine the attitudes and learning styles of nursing students for the improvement of instructional strategies plan.

This study is a quantitative research that used a descriptive comparative research designs to explain the essence of a situation that exists at the time of the study and seeks the course of specific phenomenon. In addition, this study will also take the form of an applied type of research; a distinctive aspect of this scholastic work is that it accommodated the investigator’s familiarity within the area of interest. The authors have a professional background in nursing education as well as extensive knowledge in educational management. Therefore, application of the result will draw an exceptional opportunity to the authors to improve the intended learning outcome of the nursing students.

The participants chosen for this study were nursing students; this includes students from first level to fourth level in selected three different universities in the Philippines that caters Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The respondents serves as the key players in providing the initial data, which become the foundation in the assessment of the nursing students’ current status in their attitude towards learning and their learning style for the instructional strategic improvement. In this study, the authors used purposive sampling, a technique used to decide on a population to participate in the research.

Learning style interacts and responds to the learning environment. It described how humans assimilate knowledge about the environment through four sensory modalities: Visual (observing pictures, symbols or diagrams), auditory (listening, discussing), visual/iconic (reading and writing), and kinesthetic (using tactile sensory abilities such as smell and touch).

Nursing students have varied learning styles such as visual, auditory and tactile. This implies that the nursing students learning style in terms of visual learning happens sometimes during the course of their studying. Occasionally the students used visual learning style if it requires them to, however, this gives a good impact on their understanding of the course, thus, making it retain longer in their memory. However promoting instruction remains intensely dependent on showing substance essentially through verbal signals such as composed or talked words. Without visual instruction, a few students may be underperforming due to the irregularity between teachers’ educating styles and students’ learning styles. Since it has been recommended that several college students understand better from visual jolts, an enriched equilibrium between verbal and visual procedures might offer substantial learning. This suggests that the nursing students learning style in terms of auditory learning occur sometimes during studying. Seldom the students used auditory learning style if it demands them, however, this provides a good influence on their ability to keep information integrated in their memory. Moreover, the nursing students learning style in terms of tactile learner transpire sometimes during absorbing of knowledge. Rarely the students used tactile learning style if it necessitates them; however, this stipulates an admirable effect on their capacity to sustain retention of information.

It is therefore necessary for teachers to utilize teaching-learning activities that apply these approaches to improve student engagement and learning. Schools should design a learning environment that supports and complements surface and deep learning objectives. With regard to students’ learning styles, the nursing students vary from visual, auditory to tactile. Knowledge of students’ learning styles is important for teachers to formulate appropriate teaching-learning strategies for enhancing students’ learning. Hence, teachers need to present the material using the three styles to allow all learners equal opportunity to become involved.

Reading, writing papers, and watching demonstrations and videos are an important part of student learning. However, a greater proportion of the nursing programme should focus on hands-on lab and clinical experiences, if the students are found to enjoy learning by doing. Simulation experiences are also important, including the debriefing sessions, which appeal to both kinaesthetic and aural-preference learners. Once nursing faculty learns the predominant learning style preferences of their students, they too can reconsider their educational delivery to tailor the learning experience to their students’ inclinations. An area for future study may be to assess any relationships between learning style preference and academic performance.