Styles and strategies of processing information: implications for professional education

Abstract

The relevance of research into learning styles and strategies to education for librarianship and information science is outlined, with particular reference to ‘global’ and ‘local’ cognitive styles. A study is reported which sought to assess the learning styles of students enrolled on M.A. and M.Sc. courses in librarianship and information science at the Department of Information Studies, Sheffield University. 38 students completed two questionnaires designed to assess learning styles. 23 students went on to take two learning tests in which they were required to learn from teaching materials which were matched and mismatched with their preferred learning styles. Students learning in a matched condition performed better than those learning in a mismatched condition at a statistically significant level. The extent to which learning styles may be assessed by means of relatively ‘quick and easy’ questionnaire instruments is discussed. One such instrument, developed specially for the present study, was able to predict learning style at a statistically significant level. Implications for further research are discussed.