Cross Relationships between Cognitive Styles and Learner Variables in Online Learning Environment.

Abstract

This study examines how students’ cognitive styles are correlated with their attitudes toward online education and learning behaviors in online learning environments. The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) and the attitude survey toward online instruction were administered to 104 students enrolled in various online courses at the University of Tennessee. The study findings revealed that students’ cognitive styles were not significantly correlated with their attitudes and preference for instructional delivery modes while other factors such as previous online learning experience and computer competency were significantly correlated with students’ learning outcomes and attitudes toward online instruction. Recent advances in educational technology have improved educational environments by providing many enabling tools satisfying learners’ diverse needs. Advanced network systems especially brought about a revolutionary phase in education by allowing alternative “anytime and anywhere” learning delivery methods for online learners around the world. This kind of advancement in educational technology has produced many benefits for both individual learners and organizations in several ways. Individual learners take advantage of self-paced learning environments in which they have control over their pace of learning, information flow, selection of learning activities, and time management (Jung, 2001). Organizations increase return on investment (ROI) by saving time and cost for employee training through online learning solutions and performance supporting tools. As more and more individual learners and organizations choose online instruction as their alternative learning delivery option, e-learning markets become the world’s potentially largest information industry (Adam, Awerbuch, Slonim, Wegner, & Yesha 1997). In a recent survey of e-learning within business organizations in North America, about 43% of the organizations were in the process of utilizing e-learning for performance improvement in 2001, and 33% were planning to implement e-learning within the next three years (Sofres, 2001). A report by Screen Digest estimated the corporate market of e-learning in the U.S. at $3.5 billion in 2002 (Levis, 2002). As these

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