Impact of personalised learning styles on online delivery and assessment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which learning styles influence tertiary students' preferences for flexible delivery and assessment methods in higher education. Design/methodology/approach – A voluntary self-administered questionnaire was distributed within three core undergraduate courses. A total of 891 students responded to the survey, across a range of locations, representing a response rate of approximately 45 per cent. Findings – Results reveal that learning styles do not appear to influence students level of preference overall for flexible delivery methods and assessment approaches. However, there remain a significant percentage of students who report that they do not want all course delivery to be online. The findings generally suggest that there are changing expectations of students in relation to delivery and assessment in tertiary education. Research limitations/implications – The research has been conducted at undergraduate level in business disciplines and therefore may not adequately represent the opinions of postgraduate students, or students from other disciplines. In addition over 75 per cent of respondents fall within the Generation Y category, which means that these results may not be generalisable to older populations of learners. Practical implications – Demonstrates to educators the importance of considering learning styles when developing, delivery and assessing courses, and reinforces that very few students desire entirely online courses. Originality/value – The paper focuses specifically on the preferences of students in relation to assessment and delivery via technology and identifies critical considerations for course developers.