RELATIONSHIP AMONG SATISFACTION, LEARNING STYLE AND ACHIEVEMENT OF DISTANCE LEARNERS

Abstract

The study aimed to find out relationship among satisfaction, learning style and achievement of distance learners. Its objectives were to determine the learning style of distance learners, to explore the satisfaction level of distance learners, to assess the relationship between satisfaction and achievement of distance learners, to find out the relationship between learning style and achievement of distance learners. and to find out the relationship among satisfaction, learning style and achievement of distance learners. This study is significant as it may be helpful for instructional designers, educational planners, course writers, and tutors to make strategies for effective learning environment. The study was delimited to the learners of M.Ed program in core courses at Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad from eight districts from four provinces of Pakistan. It was a correlational study in which stratified random sampling procedure was used. Satisfaction of distance learners was measured by using student Satisfaction Survey Items developed by Strachota (2006). The learning style of the students was assessed using Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Styles Scale (Diaz and Cartna, 1999). The study found majority of the learners with collaborative learning style followed by participant, Independent, competitive, dependant and avoidant learning styles. Besides, majority of students had general satisfaction with learner-learner interaction, learner content interaction followed by learner technology interaction, and learner instructor interaction. It was concluded that learner-content interaction and Learner-Instructor interaction were significant predictor of general satisfaction while Learner-learner interaction and Learner-technology interaction were not significant predictors of general satisfaction. It was also concluded that although learning style components were mostly positively and significant correlated with components of satisfaction except avoidant learning style which was negatively correlated with components of satisfaction. It was concluded that learning styles and achievement were not significantly correlated at p< 0.05 except a significant negative correlation between avoidant learning style and achievement score (r =-0.159, p<0 .01). It was also found that students’ satisfaction and achievement were not significantly correlated. It was also found that there was significant positive correlation between learning style and satisfaction with the exception that avoidant learning style was negatively significant with all components of satisfaction. The study recommended that distance learning materials and methods may be made more interactive so that collaborative learning is increased and avoidant behavior of students is decreased. There is need to develop collaborative and participant learning styles in distance learners. Learners might be encouraged to increase interaction with other learners. Distance learning tutors should be trained for better interaction and communication with students. The study may be replicated using procedures that allow a higher degree of randomization and more generalizability.