Cognitive Style and Achievement in Distance Education

ISBN-13: 9783639036138 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 140 str.

Ed D. Burtis Parcels

Opis

Field dependent and field independent cognitivestyles are contrasting ways of perceiving andprocessing information. This study investigated howthe cognitive styles of field dependence (FD) andfield independence (FI) affect the achievement levelsof distance learners. This research examined the matching or mismatchingthe design of asynchronous distance education to thefield dependent and the field independentlearner.Subjects were administered the GEFT, ameasure of field dependence-independence. Only thosein the first (Field Dependent) and fourth (FieldIndependent) quartiles of the resulting distributionparticipated the study. Half of each group wasrandomly selected to receive asynchronous onlineinstruction matching their cognitive style, and halfreceived asynchronous online instruction mismatchingtheir cognitive style. Matching the FD cognitive style, in asynchronousdistance education had a positive impact onachievement for both Field Dependent and FieldIndependent learners as measured from pre to post test.

O autorze

Dr Parcels has more than 30 years experience both in teaching in
higher education and as an instructional designer and training
leader in business and industry, with more than 25 years
experience in high technology training and development.