Learning Preferences of Undergraduate Dental Students : A Longitudinal Assessment Over Four Years

Objective: To compare the learning preferences of 78 undergraduate dental studentsfrom the first to the fourth year of dental education. Methods: The study assessed the learning sensory modality preferences of the first-year students by administering Fleming’s VARK questionnaire and reassessed the same students in fourth-year, using the same questionnaire and methodology. Results: A significant increase in the mean visual scores was observed from 2.91±1.81 in the first year to 3.63±2.06 in the fourth yearof dental education (p-value 0.036). Also, the mean aural scores significantly increased from 4.87±2.22 in the first year to 5.86±2.18 in the fourth year (p-value 0.005). Although the mean read/write scores and the mean kinestheticscoresalso increased over four years, yet these were not statistically significant. Additionally, amultimodal learning style was observed in 53.84% students of firstyear and 51.28%students offourth-year. Conclusions: A significant increase in the mean visual scores and the mean aural scores of students from the first to fourth year of dental education demonstrates that learning preferences are dynamic in nature. For delivering student-centered education, educators need to be cognizant of this potential shift so that teaching strategies and resourcesmay bemodified for improved learning and student satisfaction. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2019; 63(2) : 182–188 *Corresponding author : Dr. Urvashi Sharma, Associate Professor, Department of Pedodontics, Dr. HSJ Institute of Dental Sciences, Panjab University, Sector 25, Chandigarh – 160 014 (India), Mob. : 9872421495, Fax: +911722724912, E-mail: urvashi233@gmail.com (Received on May 18, 2018) Introduction Dental curriculum is dynamic, diverse and ever changing due to constant reforms in the curricula brought out by cont inuous advancem ents in technology regarding diagnosis and treatment. Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2019; 63(2) Learning Preferences of Dental Students 183 However, students have varied individual learning preferences which affect the way they imbibe, store, recollect and finally, reproduce information. Learning style is def ined as ‘the characteristic cognit ive, af fect ive, social , and physiolog ical behaviors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment’ (1). There is significant data to show that if the delivery of instruction is as per the preferred learning style, learning is enhanced (24). A study was conducted on the first-year students of physician assistants of Emory University, using the VARK inventory followed by a presentation on the integrat ion of suggested study sk i l ls and classroom discussion. The study, using student feedback forms, positively reflected the benefits of VARK leading to an improvement of learning with the incorporation of study skills (4). The learning styles are known to encourage dialogue and active participation of students (5), encourage learning among students with varied learning preferences (4, 5), encourage collaboration among peers (5), and bring forth innovative and varied methods of teaching (5). If ascertained how the students learn and process information, they may become better performers (3,6). Learning styles have been assessed using Kolb’s inventory (7, 8), Gregorc Learning Style Delineator (9), VARK questionnaire (10) to name a few but the latter is the easiest to use and assess, most versatile and most extensively used in education. The learners may prefer the visual or V mode; aural or A mode; read/write or R mode and the kinesthetic or K mode. Studies evaluating the learning preferences have observed variations regarding gender (10, 11); age (12) and cultural differences (13). Studies have also been conducted among students of schools (11), engineering (14), medical sciences (8, 15, 16), business studies (7, 17), biology (18), languages (19) and many more. However, in most cases (20, 21), an entirely different set of students was observed in first and fourth-year, and the study was in fact, cross-sectional. Very few studies were genuinely longitudinal such as those involving business students (7, 17) and dental students, the latter used Gregorc Learning Style Delineator (9). The present study longitudinally assesses the learning preferences of the undergraduate dental students from the first to the fourth-year of dental education using the VARK questionnaire. The data thus, collected may help in analyzing any changes that may be required in the strategies and resources to complement their preferences. Materials and Methods The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute vide letter number PU/IEC/91/13/04/09 dated 25/10/13. The learn ing preferences of the f i r s t -year undergraduate dental students were assessed by administering the VARK questionnaire (The VARK questionnaireversion 7.2) developed by Neil Fleming (22). The students were informed about the study, its objectives and assured of confidentiality. Out of one hundred students, only 83 students (17 males and 66 females) voluntarily agreed to participate and sign an informed consent. The study again assessed the learning preferences of the same students, during the fourth-year of dental course, using the same questionnaire and methodology. However, out of 83 students enrolled in the study in first-year, f ive students did not respond in fourth-year and were hence, excluded from the study. Hence, only 78 students (17 males and 61 females) of first-year, who followed up till fourth-year were evaluated. The VARK questionnaire-version 7.2 consists of sixteen questions with four options marked A, B, C and D. Students were instructed to opt for one or more answers which best explained their learning preference. The students even had the option of leaving a question unanswered. The completed questionnaires were scored and analyzed using the stepping-stone method provided in the VARK website at www.vark-learn.com (23). Depending upon the preferred sensory modality of learning, the students were divided into two broad groups: unimodal (preference for one modeeither V, A, R, or K) and multimodal (having preference for more than one mode). The multimodal group included bimodal (a combination of any two modes; VA, VR, VK etc); trimodal (a combination of any three modes-VAR, 184 Marwaha, Sharma, Bhagat and Kapoor Indian J Physiol Pharmacol 2019; 63(2) VRK, VAK etc.); and quadmodal preferences (all four sensory modes-VARK). The percentage of students in each group was calculated. The mean VARK scores of students for the first year and fourth year were calculated and compared. Non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test was used for statistical analysis of two groups. For categorical data, comparisons were made by Pearson Chi-square test. All the statistical tests were twosided and were performed at a significance level of =. 05. The analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS for Windows (version 22.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL,