Development of an Adaptive Learning System with Multiple Perspectives based on Students' Learning Styles and Cognitive Styles

TLDR

The study develops an adaptive learning system that incorporates multiple perspectives derived from students’ learning styles and cognitive styles. A personalized presentation module, grounded in the field‑dependent/independent cognitive style model and Felder‑Silverman’s eight learning style dimensions, was implemented and evaluated in a computer science course with 54 participants split into experimental and control groups. Students using the adaptive system achieved significantly higher learning outcomes than those using a conventional system.

Abstract

In this study, an adaptive learning system is developed by taking multiple dimensions of personalized features into account. A personalized presentation module is proposed for developing adaptive learning systems based on the field dependent/independent cognitive style model and the eight dimensions of Felder-Silverman's learning style. An experiment has been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach in a computer science course. Fifty-four participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group which learned with an adaptive learning system developed based on the personalized presentation module, and a control group which learned with the conventional learning system without personalized presentation. The experimental results showed that the experimental group students revealed significantly better learning achievements than the control group students, implying that the proposed approach is able to assist the students in improving their learning performance.