Assessing Agricultural Communications Students' Learning Styles: A Baseline Study

NACTA Journal, Mar 2007 by Cartmell, D Dwayne II, Majors, Melissa, Ashlock, Marcus A, Sitton, Shelly Peper

Abstract

This Oklahoma State University research project determined students' learning styles using the Gregorc Style Delineator to determine the learning styles found within the agricultural communications student population. The typical agricultural communications student can be described as a female junior or senior with a permanent residence in Oklahoma, an ACT score between 25 and 29, and a grade point average above 3.00 on a 4-point scale. The largest group of students was Concrete/Sequential (42.2%). The Abstract/Sequential and Concrete/Random groups were similar in size, 23.0% and 20.7% respectively. Males who preferred concrete information perception preferred a random gathering process, while females who preferred concrete information perception preferred a sequential ordering process. Recommendations include future research to assess the possibility of variables affecting learning styles and student success and to expand the study to additional agricultural communications programs across the country to provide a national assessment of the learning styles and demographics of agricultural communications students.

Introduction

Considerable research has focused on learning styles and their effects on academic performance in undergraduate education (Cano and Porter, 1997; Cano, 1999; Fidanza et al., 2004; Honeyman and Miller, 1998; Torres, 1993; Torres and Cano, 1994). Gregorc (1979) described learning styles as adaptations within the learning environment, which are indicated by specific behaviors individuals use as they gather information. Similar to this is cognitive style, which is defined as the way people organize or categorize information and render judgments or conclusions based upon their observations (Hunt et al., 1989). "Information processing style, often termed cognitive style, has gained prominence in the organizational behavior literature as researchers use it as a basis for studying decision-making behavior, conflict, strategy development, and group processes" (Leonard et al., 1999, p. 407).

Research to identify the learning styles of students enrolled in agriculture generally has portrayed these students as concrete learners (Dyer and Osborne, 1996). Within agricultural education, researchers often have used the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) to measure learning styles (Garton et al, 1999; Garton et al., 2000; Garton et al., 2002; Marrison and Frick, 1994; and Torres and Cano, 1994). However, except for a few studies, the learning-style research in agricultural education has been explorative and has not considered the impact of students' learning styles on teaching and learning (Day et al., 1998). In addition, this research focused specifically on agricultural education students, rather than on agricultural communications students.

Torres and Cano (1995) said students' learning success in certain situations is affected by learning styles and recommended teachers "be sensitive to learning style differences" (p. 7). Grasha (1996) maintains students learning styles are affected by experiences, thus, teaching styles will influence a student's learning style. Zapalska and Dabb (2002) maintain absorption and retention of information can largely depend upon whether the information was received through a person's preferred learning modality or style.

An understanding of learning styles and students' preferences for teaching methods or curriculum materials can enhance advising duties (Torres and Cano, 1995). Murano and Knight (1999) reported "study skills and the ability to remain attentive in class were different between learning styles" (p. 52). Although research shows the relationship between course achievement and a student's learning style is positive, but low (Garton et al., 1999), faculty can use learning styles assessments to build strategies to enhance the learning transfer between instructor and student. However, Kr�tzig and Arbuthnott (2006) maintain educators should be wary of the conclusions made about student learning improvement and its influence by the efforts in course design using learning styles.

The purpose of the agricultural communications degree program at Oklahoma State University is to provide students with a broad communications and agriculture knowledge base. Students are required to complete coursework focusing on practical application, as well as courses in agricultural leadership, agricultural economics, plant science and animal science to increase their agricultural knowledge base. The communications courses include broadcasting, photography, Web design, publication design, writing and public speaking. The demands of the coursework require students to not only learn material, but to also focus on the application of the learned material. Application opportunities culminate in a supervised internship and in the required capstone course where students produce the Cowboy Journal magazine.

While the first agricultural journalism classes were offered at the university in 1927, the agricultural communications program had a 625% increase in students enrolled during the past 12 years (Table 1). However, little research has been done to evaluate what types of students are enrolling in the program and, more importantly, what learning styles and demographics are prevalent among the student population. While research to determine the importance of learning styles has been conducted, the effect of learning styles on agricultural communications students has yet to be studied. By assessing the learning style of students within the program at OSU, faculty can use this information along with demographic data to focus curriculum on meeting the needs of all students in the program. Specifically, this study was done to address the following research questions: