Prioritizing Improvements in Internet Instruction Based on Learning Styles and Strategies

How can various features of internet-based instruction be adapted to help students with different learning styles to grasp important science concepts? Are there ways of defining and measuring these differences that instructors without much background in educational psychology might find easier to apply than some of the better-known examples? How can a better understanding of student characteristics help instructors and developers prioritize further development of internet-based lessons? Resident students in a genetics course were required to complete internet-based lessons originally developed for distance learning. Students who agreed to participate in this study completed the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST), which was used to sort them into groups with similar "approaches to studying," a concept that includes motivations (intrinsic or extrinsic), intentions (to process the information at either a deep or surface level), and whether their study methods are organized or disorganized. Later in the semester, students' evaluations of the internet lessons were analyzed to determine how learners with different style or approach characteristics used six lesson features. This analysis, which includes five semesters of data, helped the instructor and instructional designer determine what changes would be helpful to many students, but especially those who are struggling with the concepts and not confident about their study skills or academic abilities. Additional insights came from asking students to estimate what percentage of their total learning in the course came from the internet lessons compared to lectures, labs, and other sources.