The Analysis of the Relationship between Primary Learning Styles and Learning Objects in an Online Environment

This study investigates the relationships between the primary learning styles of students and
different learning objects presented simultaneously in an online learning environment in the
context of the usage levels of these objects. A total of 103 sophomores from a Turkish State
University participated in the study. Felder-Solomon Index of Learning-Styles (F-SILS) was used to
determine the learning styles of the participants. Four different types of learning objects (i.e. video
lecturing, audio lecturing, PDF lecturing and subject comprehension tests) were prepared for the
course ‗Basic database operations with MySQL‘. Koper‘s (2003) classification model was used in
selecting these learning objects. Descriptive analysis methods were used to determine the
distribution of the participants according to their learning styles. Independent-Samples T-Test and
the Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon test were used to test the differences between learning styles and
learning objects. The usage levels of the learning objects were analysed in the context of
interdimensional primary learning styles in the scale of the F-SILS. Those with sensory and visual
learning styles were in the majority among the primary learning styles of participants. The study
did not include the findings of students with other primary learning styles due to their small
sample size. The findings of the study on the usage frequencies of subject comprehension tests and
the duration of video lectures by primarily visual and sensory students demonstrated a significant
difference on behalf of the primary sensory students. On the other hand, there was no statistically
significant difference between students with primarily sensory styles and students with primarily
visual styles in terms of the reading frequency of PDF lectures and the listening frequency of audio
lectures.