Automated feedback of Learning Styles' Is it just a horoscope

1
Automated feedback of Learning Styles. Is it
just a horoscope?

• Dr. Delia Wakelin
• Northumbria University
• Dr C Smith Dr A Porter Dr C Colbourn Dr H Dudiak
  R Lever

Psychology Learning Teaching 2006 Conference
2
Cognitive Learning Strategies in Students

• Interested in flexible learners who need to cope
  with many ways of instruction, assessment and
  learning
• How can we encourage students to explore?
• Two stages
• Measure student strategies (styles)
• Encourage and enhance students

3
Cognitive Learning Strategies in Students

• Reviewed then administered many measures
• Students filled in the questionnaire, and we
  soon decided to do this on the internet.
• Students were given feedback
• The value of this exercise was then determined.

4
Learning Strategies

• Four measures were used.
• Curriculum Questionnaire
• LSQ (Mental/Behavioural/Self Regulation)
• ASSIST (Deep/Strategic/Surface)
• VARK (visual/auditory/read-write/kinaesthetic)

olfactory
5
Automation

• Found a fair degree of overlap in feedback
• Decided to try to automate the procedure by using
  what was essentially a production system
• Sequence of IF THEN combinations
• With rules relating to scores

6
Automation - original
7
Automation - original
8
Automation - original
9
Automation - original
10
Automation old guidance offered

11
Automation old guidance offered

12
Automation - new
13
Automation - new
14
Automation - new
15
Automation - new
16
Automation - enhancement Becoming deeper
17
Automation - enhancement Time management
18
Correlations - measures and assessments

• Lsq - poor correlations
• Assist - only negative correlations with surface
• Some low correlations with vark totals
• First year marks highly correlated
• Correlations reasonable with curriculum
  questionnaire

19
Using feedback

• Can ask students to explore
• However too much information
• Can hope recommendations will focus
• Not sure it will
• Can run a guidance tutorial
• More chance of working

20
Changing students

• We should liken change for students in the same
  was as in therapy
• How can change occur in therapy?
• Challenging beliefs
• We have achieved first step of providing a way of
  externalising the beliefs about learning and
  assessment

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx With students
21
Methods for changing students

• Make more use of CBT strategies
• E.g black and white thinking, focussing on
  negative, poor beliefs about others
• Have we got time
• Enhancement module provides the tools, but need
  a better way of using it.

22
Cognitive consistency

• Some criticisms of CBT
• Doesnt explain why people are resistant to
  change
• Students are also resistant to change
• Leahy 2002

23
Cognitive consistency

• Leahy 2002
• Characteristic of depression is the apparent low
  motivation, low energy, indecisiveness and
  self-criticism that constitute a core of
  resistance to change
• Characteristic of weaker students is the apparent
  low motivation, low energy, indecisiveness and
  self-criticism that constitute a core of
  resistance to change

24
Investment model

• Individuals make decisions about how to allocate
  their resources based on their estimate of
  present and future resources available, tolerance
  for risk, and probability and value of gains and
  losses.
• Depressed individuals (poor strategy students)
  resist change, and hesitate in making decisions

25
paradox

• Some students dont seem motivated to pursue
  reward
• Decisions seem to be based on expectations of
  future outcome and have strategies to avoid loss
  and inhibit risk.
• Strategy is not a bias but an adaptation
• Poor learners believe to abandon learning
  strategy will enhance loss

26
How can I lose?

• Cost is the default
• Prevarication and waiting adopted
• Under stress students will fall back on their
  safe approaches
• Need to give more opportunity to explore other
  methods in safe environment
• Need more focus on these issues in course
• Once a semester isnt enough

27
Changing students

• Looks as if the problem is unattainable given the
  constraints of time - staff and student -
  maintaining interest
• The guidance program is going to be critical in
  relation to validity of CLaSS
• But students do change - whatever we were doing
  in the course had some influence

28
questions

• How should students use the resource?
• How should guidance sessions work?
• Do we need a protocol?
• Do staff need to be trained?
• Do we have to include more innovations in our
  syllabi?
• Do students need to be trained?
• Do we need to measure some motivational/emotional
  factors?

29
Thanks for contributions

• HEFCE
• Dr Chris Smith - CLaSS director Dr Helen
  Whiteley
• Rachel Lever CLaSS manager
• Colleagues in Partner Institutions
• Students at Northumbria University

30
Critique from F. Coffied

• Practice of identifying students learning style
  and tailoring teaching methods to student needs
  should be abandoned
• Diagnosis of verbalisers, visualisers etc and
  subsequent teaching is invalid.
• 13 methods examined only Entwistle and Vermont
  models of any value

31
Critique from F. Coffied 2

• Learning style implied fixed preference which
  took no account of student experiences or
  environment
• Our study takes the situation from the other
  direction. If style doesnt work, can students
  recognise it, and adapt