Do gender and learning style play a role in how online courses should be designed

Abstract

The Kolb Learning Style Inventory was used to identify differences between the learning styles of 168 students in traditional face-to-face courses and students in matched courses taught online. Additionally, the data for the online courses were divided by gender to determine if gender was a factor. Results of the analysis found that there was a difference in the learning style of the online student and the student in the face-to-face course and that gender was a factor in the relationship between learning style and student engagement. The implications for online course designers are significant. When designing online courses the learning style and gender of all students must be considered. Willis (2001) contended that “at its most basic level, distance education takes place when a teacher and student(s) are separated by physical distance and technology (i.e., voice, video, data, and print), often in concert with face-to-face communications, is used to bridge the instructional gap ” (p. 1). Internet learning, particularly asynchronous learning as a form of distance learning, is growing by leaps and bounds. Knowlton (2000) noted, “Although students determine the direction of a course through their active