Does gender affect online learning?

In the new territory of online courses, much exploration is needed on how differing learning styles and gender differences affect the learning experience. These issues are just beginning to sink in for many who design and instruct online courses, according to Dr. Diana Garland, associate director of academic outreach at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield.

Garland, along with Dr. Barbara Martin, professor of educational administration and doctoral program coordinator at Southwest Missouri State, studied the relationship between learning styles and level of engagement of online students, and whether gender affects it.

They presented their findings at the 19th annual conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison WI in August and discussed their research with WIHE.

About the study

Garland and Martin used 91 students from five upper division and graduate online courses using the Blackboard course management system.

Students completed the Kolb Learning Style Inventory 3, designed to identify their preferred learning styles: Diverging, Assimilating, Converging or Accommodating. A student's learning style is determined by how she or he perceives and processes information in four stages: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation.

Of the 91 students, 61 completed the Kolb Inventory: 35 females and 26 males, with a mean age of 28.75 years.