Learning style preferences of Australian occupational therapy students

Background/aim:  The learning styles and teaching implications for nursing and health science students have been well researched in other countries. Less research has considered the learning styles and implications for occupational therapy students. The current study examines the learning styles of occupational therapy students at one Australian university.
Methods:  The learning style preferences of first year undergraduate occupational therapy students ( n  = 120) were investigated. The students completed the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and Fleming's VARK (Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and Kinaesthetic) Questionnaire in the first weeks of their course.
Results:  The response rate was 97% ( n  = 116). Learning style preferences as determined by the Kolb LSI were spread over all four Kolb LSI learning styles with 'diverging' (30.2%) and 'converging' (28.4%) being the most preferred. Instructional preference as measured by the VARK Questionnaire was kinaesthetic learning (33%), followed by the multimodal preference VARK (18.1%). Visual and aural categories were these students' least preferred methods of learning.
Conclusions:  The results of the current study support previous research indicating a range of teaching methods should be utilised to accommodate for the variability of students' learning styles within educational programs. To accommodate the range of learning experiences encountered in fieldwork and later in professional practice, students need to strengthen their capacities to use a variety of learning styles. This paper proposes that student learning for evidenced-based practice be facilitated by a range of learning opportunities including practical experiences.