The impact of learning styles and high school learning environments on students' decisions regarding higher education

Keywords

Cognitive styles, Education, Secondary, Learning strategies, Learning, Psychology of

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify the learning styles of students at a nontraditional college and then examine whether the match or mismatch between their learning styles and their high school learning environments influenced their decisions regarding higher education. It was also hoped that the results of the study would indicate whether or not students with nontraditional learning styles select nontraditional higher education because of their impression that the learning environment will be different than their traditional high school learning environments, and whether students with nontraditional learning styles and preferences would attend nontraditional colleges, but not traditional colleges. The study was based on commonalities of behavior-based and brain-based learning theories that suggest people learn differently. Data was collected from 302 students attending Full Sail Real World Education, a private, nontraditional, multimedia college that provides learning experiences outside the confines of traditional learning environments and awards Associate of Science Degrees in Recording Arts, Film and Video Production, Digital Media, Computer Animation, Game Design, and Show Production and Touring. The participants' ages ranged from 18 to 46 and the average age was 22. High school diplomas were received by 90% of the participants while 10% of the participants received GEDs. True Colors is a personality inventory that is based on the work of Carl Jung, Isabel Myers-Briggs, and David Keirsey, and was selected as the measure to identify characteristics of participants' learning styles. A research questionnaire was created for the study using both open- and closed-ended questions to provide demographic information of the participants and insight on the impact of their learning styles and high school learning environments on their decisions regarding higher education. It was determined that both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data would better describe the participants' learning styles, educational experiences, and decision-making processes than either analysis alone. The study should be of interest to educators, administrators, parents, and students in elementary through post-secondary institutions of all types. A relationship between learning styles, high school learning environments, and decisions regarding higher education suggests the need for a variety of learning opportunities for students; a need for high school students to have better labels than "college bound" or "non-college bound" in relation to their plans after graduation; and a need for students to be better educated on a variety of opportunities of higher education, both traditional and nontraditional. While the data did not show that high schools necessarily deter students from higher education because their learning environments are not advantageous to all learning styles, 66% of the participants in the study reported that their learning style did not match their high school learning environment, 51 % reported that they were interested in a college learning environment that was different than their high school, and a number of participants responded that they did not know there were differences among colleges in regards to their learning environments. The reality that 21 % of the participants in the study reported that the day they graduated from high school or received their GED they were not planning to attend college, and 100% have made it to Full Sail, suggests that great attention be given to follow up and outreach programs to high school students after graduation. The findings may be beneficial to all institutions of higher education, traditional and nontraditional, in regards to their marketing and recruiting efforts as well.

Notes

This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your thesis or dissertation, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by STARS for more information.

Graduation Date

2004

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Education

Format

PDF

Pages

131 p.

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0029479

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Education; Education -- Dissertations, Academic

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS