Student learning styles, web use patterns and attitudes toward hypermedia-enhanced instruction

This paper focuses on attitudinal aspects of a four-year research on relationship between learning styles and learning outcomes in a hypermedia-enhanced environment. The research showed that a majority of engineering students had learning styles mismatched with the style of instruction that is still mostly verbal, theoretical, and does not encourage active participation. The author used hypermedia-enhanced instruction in order to provide effective scaffolding for such students. This paper discusses exit survey results showing that students overwhelmingly approved of hypermedia-assisted instruction and web support. This supports the conclusion that educational technology can accommodate a wider variety of learning style preferences, and thus increase learning.