Learning Styles and College Students

Community Colleges in America

In 1983 and 1984, a dozen major reports on the United States' schools were published. All stressed the need for "excellence" in education. These reports are the subject of: Excellence in Education: Perspectives on Policy and Practice. The reports pertaining to higher education were published by The BusinessHigher Education Forum, and saw higher education as "unable to train skilled managers and technicians that they believed industry needed." (Altbach 32) These reports essentially claim that student achievement has declined at technical schools because schools "do not demand enough of their students, do not apply stiff criteria for promotion, do not test students enough, and particularly in high school, provide students with too many choices about what subjects they study." (Altbach 32) These reports are somewhat dated in that they compare American students with Japanese students and focus on technical proficiency vs. The intuitive grasp of problems and methodologies for solving these problems, since cited as a forte of American workers. The reports hold that graduates are mediocre at best -- and that this mediocrity (which is directly produced by the schools) is responsible for high unemployment rates and America's decline in defense and in world trade. The Paideia Proposal and the College Board Reports claim that colleges have slackened their admissions requirements, letting in a larger proportion of unqualified applicants. These reports claim that schools can rectify this matter by teaching students more English and Foreign languages, focusing on the sciences at the high school level, and then using aptitude tests to measure performance in these subjects at the college level. These reports fault schools for not encouraging students to enroll in math-related or biology programs.

In "A Handbook on the Community College in America," Baker, Dudziak and Tyler provide a comprehensive study of the history and development of the 2-year college, current teaching methodologies, and how these colleges function in an urban setting. In "Part 3: Curriculum and Instructional Development in The Community College," the third chapter of the Handbook, Albert Smith details the teaching practices utilized in American Community Colleges. The chapter includes "a brief history of instructional innovation and change in U.S. community colleges, describe the increasingly diverse student body that now attends U.S. two-year colleges, and consider the future, including a discussion of some learning principles, a learning theory, and research on community college faculty that should be useful to community college faculty in future years."

(Baker, Dudziak and Tyler 206) The book not only talks about teaching methodologies at 2-year schools but also dedicates sections to the history of community colleges and how they interact with the urban learning environment.

In "Students' Learning Styles in Two Classes Online Distance Learning and Equivalent On-Campus," a journal article by Ryan B. Cartnal and David P. Diaz of Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, California, the authors discuss the comparative merits of online and classroom instruction, and conclude that 'telecourse' learning is best suited for those who have gained some experience through work, such as adult learners who wish to acquire or finish a degree online. "Successful telecourse students [prefer] to look for abstract concepts to help explain the concrete experiences associated with their learning. That is, they wanted to know "why" certain things happened in conceptual or theoretical terms. This more abstract approach clearly favored success in the telecourse." (Cartnal and Diaz 130) The study also found that students in a distance learning class who possess a more independent and conceptual learning style scored higher in all of the student achievement areas than people who had a more social and conceptual learning style. A regression was used, in which it was found that "Correlational analysis within the online group showed a negative relationship between the independent learning style and the collaborative and dependent styles. In other words, people who were more independent in their learning styles also tended to be less collaborative and dependent." (Cartnal and Diaz 130)

Richard Miller, Charles Finley and Candace Shedd Vancko's work, "Evaluating, Improving, and Judging Faculty Performance in Two-Year Colleges" focuses mostly on improving the performance of teachers, although it isn't as heavily dependent on new methodologies than many of the other works are. He looks to the institutional culture of these colleges as to provide an example for teachers. His perspective is the opposite of those found in 4-year schools: the professors in such institutions professors are revered and many believe the administration to be poorly organized.

Jonathan L. Ross, a doctoral candidate in educational technology, and Robert A. Schulz, a professor of management, at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, address methods in which the World Wide Web can be used as a teaching tool in "Using the World Wide Web to Accommodate Diverse Learning Styles." To the credit of the Internet, the authors argue that it is more likely to suit the student's individual needs and save the professor time. They argue that it can also broaden the subject matter and give the student more reasons to learn. However, they also make the argument that the Internet can favor students that are familiar with its use and make material more time consuming to develop. The authors also point to the steep nature of the learning curve as a barrier to Internet use. The article says that the Internet helps stimulate students' auditory and learning styles. The article also contrasts linear and abstract thinkers and the way these two types can approach the Internet.

In The Two-Year College; a Social Synthesis, Chapter 8 deals with "Curriculum and Instruction." Here the author claims that the curriculum represents institutional culture, although it is limited by differences of opinion. "In addition to this central difference of perspective, a number of other curriculum determinants present themselves. In general, these may be subsumed under three main headings: extra-institutional influences, intra-institutional influences, and administrative or mediating influences." (Blocker, Plummer, and Richardson 202) It makes the point that the four-year colleges because of the nature of the transfer program determine a lot of the curriculum, and that state and national governments have some bearing on course material because they provide most community college with funding.

In Empowerment and Democracy in the Workplace: Applying Adult Education Theory and Practice for Cultivating Empowerment, John Dew reviews methodologies used in adult education and surveys methods that could be used to introduce them to the workplace environment. He speaks specifically of the factory environment, where he argues that it is crucial to maintain technical proficiencies when technologies are rapidly changing. "The first approach is rather simple. Ask each person to list the jobs they perform, and beside each job, write down what skill or special information is needed. Then, determine if this skill or knowledge is a standard part of the educational curriculum that a person in this position would already know, or see if there is special training needed." (Dew 57) Dew goes on to speak of the use of technology. "Many organizations are addressing the training issue through the use of videotape and computer interactive training. If vocational training can be placed on videotape or on a personal computer, then the employee can refer to the training when needed, or can review the information at times that are convenient to the employee. Where possible, videotape and computer training should use actual employees to give the content of the presentation." (Dew 58)

Penelope Herideen's Pedagogy, and Social Inequality: Community College Student Realities in Post-Industrial America explores the effects of educational reform on some students in its first chapter, The Impact of Educational Reform on Nontraditional Students. It describes these programs by saying "The Clinton Administration's perspective on education rests on the human capital model. This model reflects a concern that the United States is losing its competitive edge in the world market. Investment in education is the recommended proactive strategy to upgrade the skills of workers for a technologically advanced workplace. People are viewed as human capital to be invested in to assure this goal." (Herideen 9) She claims that the administration made the assumption that they typical community college student thinks and learns like a traditional high school student, whereas students are typically adults (non-traditional students,) returning to school for an advanced education or special training.

In The Community College: "Educating Students at the Margin Between College and Work," a journal article by Thomas Kane and Cecilia Rouse, the authors "survey the available evidence on the impacts of community colleges on educational attainment and earnings." (Kane and Rouse, 63) The authors go on to comment on the changing nature of teaching at these institutions: "Originally, junior colleges focused on what is termed the "transfer function": students would complete two years of a general undergraduate education and earn an associate's degree at the two-year college, and those who wanted and were capable would transfer to a four-year college to complete a bachelor's degree. Since then, two-year colleges have broadened their mission to include vocational degree programs, continuing adult education programs, and workforce, economic and community development programs. In addition, community colleges have traditionally striven to increase access to higher education through an open admissions policy -- often not even requiring a high school diploma -- and low, or no, tuition." (Kane and Rouse 65)

Joseph F. Kett's "The Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties: From Improvement to Adult Education in America, 1750-1990" deals with the evolution of adult education over the years. It starts out with self-education as it is portrayed in American history before it was formalized: the first universities didn't appear in the United States until the late 1800's. The author also deals with various class and social differences that were caused by the lack of availability of adult education although the advent of industry ultimately necessitated this development. As the Author moves into the 20th century and reviews contemporary innovations, including the advent of junior colleges and eventually the community colleges as we now know them. The author also reviews industrial education at it was introduced at the turn of the century and later came to be perfected as workers faced domestic and international education and finally came to face a working environment that constantly requires skill updates. The author constantly makes comparisons between modern-day innovations and those that predominated in the nineteenth century.

Older Adult Education: a Guide to Research, Programs, and Policies by Robert Manheimer deals with the concept of "Lifetime Education" deals with such concepts as "Older Adult Learning in the Technological Age," where he "examines the influence on older adult education of computer technology and forms of distance learning, such as telecommunications." He writes, "We review the emerging literature on model programs and research regarding computer literacy among seniors, their motives for seeking knowledge of computers, and some preliminary findings of the benefits. How seniors may participate in the information highway is also discussed." He also dedicates a chapter to Generations Learning Together," in which he "considers recent emphasis on intergenerational programming and focuses on those programs inviting members of different generations to learn from one another and to take advantage of multigenerational perspectives in joint or co-learning ventures." (Manheimer xviii)

Leland Medsker, author of The Junior College: Progress and Prospect is the Vice-Chairman Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of California at Berkeley. This book both deals with 'transfer' and 'terminal' students; that is, students that wish to transfer to a two-year school and those that wish to complete a course of study at the Junior College. Here he voices a common concern: "The fact that technical institute work may on occasion be transferable illustrates the point that the transferability of a course depends on its acceptance for credit by a four-year college, particularly the four-year college of an individual student's choice. However, four-year colleges vary in what they will accept; hence a course may be transferable to one institution but may not be acceptable to all." (Medsker 52) He makes the observation that the two-year school will not be able to find its footing unless it is able to develop skills independent of those found at four-year schools. This will forever condemn the two-year school as an institution of learning that serves only to prepare students for the third and fourth year of school that they can complete at a four-year school. In that two-year schools find their footing, these programs can be traditional liberal ones (offering English, Math classes and the like) or occupational ones (offering classes such as ones in mechanical work, law enforcement, bookkeeping, and personal finance.) Theoretically, a terminal program may either be general (general education, liberal arts, and the like.) The authors note: "Interviewed administrators reported that few students are interested in a strictly terminal general education curriculum. As result, most terminal curricula have a strong occupational orientation, although a limited amount of general education is usually included." (Medsker 54)

Attributions for Success and Failure among Anglo, Black, Hispanic, and Native American Community College Students," a journal article by Stephen Powers and Mark Rossman of Arizona State University examines "the factor structure of low-achieving Native American, Black, Hispanic, and Anglo community college students. It is hypothesized that ethnic differences will exist in community college students and that these differences will be found in the factor structure of these four ethnic groups." (Powers and Rossman 27) In their study, 399 students were administered "the Multidimensional Multiattributional Causality Scale in order to examine attributions of academic success and failure to ability, effort, context, and luck." The study finds that "Low-achieving Anglos, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native American community college students appeared to be similar in their attributions of academic success to external causes such as the context of an event and good luck. Anglos, Hispanics, and Native Americans were similar in their attributions of success to internal causes. Although Blacks were similar in attributions to internal causes, they also possessed an aspect of this second factor which included attributions of failure to lack of ability and bad luck. A different configuration appeared for the third factor. In the attribution of failure, Blacks and Native Americans had a similar structure, with strong loadings indicating attributions of failure to lack of effort. Hispanics and Anglos had a strong component indicating attributions of failure to the context of the event." (Powers and Rossman 30) In short, white and Hispanic students are more likely to blame failure on context, whereas blacks and native Americans blame their own laziness.

In "Adult Students At Risk: Cultural Biases in Higher Education," the author advocates a post-modern approach to an adult education: "To accomplish this task, we will explore several topics affecting the nature and practice of adult education. Foremost, we will spend some time examining the work of Knowles and other prominent adult educators to see where andragogical science intersects with and might be enhanced by postmodern possibility." The book goes on to outline an adult academic program that builds upon "border andragogy and praxis learning, two concepts crucial to the postmodern educational project." (Quinnan et all, 87) The authors conclude that "students and those that teach them would be enriched by the admission of individual experiences into a class setting that previously prohibited all but disciplinary versions of knowledge. (Quinnan et all, 106)

Joseph Rychlak defends the use of logic as a teaching methodology in Logical Learning Theory: A Human Teleology and Its Empirical Support. Relying heavily both on classical philosophers such as Kant and Hegel and the modern works of educational theorists, Rychlak's central premise is that post-secondary school instruction lacks causation, and as a result suffers because students are not given a precise understanding of the original concepts on which the concepts they are taught are allowed. Rychlak suggests a re-emphasis on Teleology in learning. The author begins by "examining the differences between mechanical and logical processing and then move on to a number of topics providing a clearer description of the latter." (Rychlak 92) The author believes that much of the problems with today's students can be seen as the result of illogical thinking. (Rychlak 282) He claims that "predication is a logical process of affirming, denying, or qualifying precedently broader patterns of meaning in sequacious extension to narrower or targeted patterns of meaning. The target is the point, aim, or end (telos) of the meaning-extension." (Rychlak 282) book by Dunn and Griggs, "Practical Approaches to Using Learning Styles in Higher Education" explores stages in improving the teaching environment of two and four-year colleges. These involve a comprehensive audit of practices, which is known as PEPS, the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey. The system is used to "identify individual and group patterns among students' learning-style preferences and then develop teaching strategies to respond to those patterns." (Dunn and Griggs, 2000. X) After learning style preferences are identified, students may identify their own strengths and weaknesses. The systems are also designed to obtain results for empowering students to study through their learning-style strengths. Some actually assign computer-generated prescriptions for studying and doing homework suggest instructional approaches that respond to individual, rather than group learning-styles. (Dunn and Griggs, 2000. Chapter 14). Professors then design instruction to respond to both global and analytic students' processing styles, as illustrated by Robin Boyle, Karen Burke, Shirley Griggs, and Nancy Montgomery (Chapters 17, 9, 12, and 4). Borrowing from Howard Gardner and others, this system also goes ahead with multimedia learning, and professors are requested to "Develop course content to accommodate a variety of perceptual preferences -- auditory, visual, tactual, and kinesthetic. (Chapters 17, 10, 9, 13, and 14). Special materials are then requests are made to individualize the Curriculum.

Dunn & Griggs, 2000. x) Most of these writers focus on developing ways to cater to learning styles that are more individualistic, both at the collegiate and graduate school level. At one point, the book advises that a teacher act as a facilitator, a guide, and a coach, advocating what it calls a 'constructivist philosophy. (Dunn and Griggs, 2000. 54)

In "The Naturalistic Approach to Learning Styles" by Tony Grasha, a professor at the University of Cincinnati, Grasha questions the utility of self-report personality tests, opinion and attitude surveys in determining the nature of student learning preferences. Grasha has worked over the last 18 years to conduct research on the GrashaRiechmann student learning style scales, a questionaire designed to "elicit information about student tendencies toward competition, collaboration, independence, dependence, participation, and avoidance." (Grasha 106) He develops profiles of several different types of students and categorizes them based on interviews he conducts according to a methodology. Typical student attitudes he makes mention of are: Compliant, anxious dependent, discouraged worker, independent, hero, attention seeker, silent students, and 'snipers.' (Grasha 107)

In "Rethinking Achievement Goals," Judith M. Harackiewicz and Kenneth E. Barron of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Andrew J. Elliot of the University of Rochester questioned the adaptation of achievement goals for college students. These authors claim that: "The types of goals that students adopt in educational settings and the consequences of those goals on 2 important educational outcomes -- performance and intrinsic motivation -- are discussed." The authors evaluate the theories of other investigators and consider the possibility that "some commonly accepted conclusions about the effects of achievement goals are premature." (Harackiewicz et all 1) The authors describe a theoretical model of intrinsic motivation that has guided our own work on this topic and provide some recent experimental results. The study eventually returns "to the college classroom environment and examine the consequences of goals for both performance and intrinsic motivation, offering a broader analysis of success in college courses." (Harackiewicz, 1)

Hong and Milgram's "Homework: Motivation and Learning Preference" focuses on a new direction that homework is taking: one that "distinguishes between learning at school and at home, and focuses not on the homework itself but on the child doing the homework" as it applies to students at the high school, community college and university level. (Hong and Milgram 4) The book presents "presents the conceptual framework for our approach to the study of homework. It provides the background for understanding the chapters that follow in which we present the research studies we conducted that led to the crystallization of the current conceptualization of homework." (Hong and Milgram 4)

In "Education on Trial: Strategies for the Future," Hobert Burns addresses the establishment of what he calls 'post-secondary' education in chapter seven. Here he speaks of the 'tripartate' arrangement of universities, state colleges, and community colleges that was designed to handle the drastic increase in post-secondary school educational programs following the Second World War. Here he critiques the origin of collegiate instruction methodologies: "The structure consisted of certain course requirements, specifications, and prerequisites designed to yield scope and sequence and focus upon a set of curricular priorities based on a consensus about the central purpose of higher education. Such a structure was in greater or lesser degree dismantled by the faculty, with the consent of the administration, in favor of curricula that had courses or other "delivery systems" characterized as new, innovative, responsive, pertinent, and relevant." (Johnston 83)