The relationship of Kolb learning styles, online learning behaviors and learning outcomes

This study focused on the relationship between Kolb learning styles and the enduring time of online learning behaviors, the relationship between Kolb learning styles and learning outcomes and the relationship between learning outcomes and the enduring time of a variety of different online learning behaviors. Prior to the experiment, 104 students majoring in Educational Technology completed Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (KLSI). Forty students were chosen to be subjects in an online learning experiment. Results indicated that there was a significant effect of Kolb learning style on the total reading time and total discussion time of the subjects. Although there was no significant effect between Kolb learning styles and learning outcomes, data from the experiment showed that the mean of learning outcomes of Convergers and Assimilators was higher than that of Divergers and Accommodators. There were two models of linear regression between learning outcomes and the enduring time of different online learning behaviors. Both of them were significant at the 0.001 level, and they accounted for 54.9% and 60.8% of the variance of the dependent respectively. The findings of this study were instrumental to instructors and moderators of online courses. First, instructors using online courses should seriously consider the diversity of learning styles when designing and developing online learning modules for different students. Second, they should provide a large number of electronic documents for students and give enough time to let them absorb knowledge by online reading. These could be effective methods to improve the quality of online courses.