Results of a study assessing teaching methods of faculty after measuring student learning style preference

Background. Learning style preference impacts how well groups of students respond to their curricula. Faculty have many choices in the methods for delivering nursing content, as well as assessing students. Objectives: The purpose was to develop knowledge around how faculty delivered curricula content, and then considering these findings in the context of the students learning style preference. Design: Following an in-service on teaching and learning styles, faculty completed surveys on their methods of teaching and the proportion of time teaching, using each learning style (visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic). Setting: This study took place at the College of Nursing a large all-female university in Saudi Arabia. Participants: 24 female nursing faculty volunteered to participate in the project. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used. Results: Faculty reported teaching using mostly methods that were kinesthetic and visual, although lecture was also popular (aural). Students preferred kinesthetic and aural learning methods. Read/write was the least preferred by students and the least used method of teaching by faculty. Conclusions: Faculty used visual methods about one third of the time, although they were not preferred by the students. Students' preferred learning style (kinesthetic) was the method most used by faculty.