Self-directed learning readiness and learning styles among Saudi undergraduate nursing students.

BACKGROUND Self-directed learning has become a focus for nursing education in the past few decades due to the complexity and changes in nursing profession development. On the other hand, the Kolb's learning style could identify student's preference for perceiving and processing information. OBJECTIVES This study was performed to determine Saudi nursing students' readiness for self-directed learning; to identify their learning styles and to find out the relation between these two concepts. DESIGN Cross-sectional descriptive study. SETTINGS Nursing department of faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Al-Jouf University, Saudi Arabia. PARTICIPANTS Two hundred and seventy-five undergraduate Saudi nursing students. METHODS Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires covering the demographic features of students, Fisher's self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) scale, and the Kolb's learning styles inventory. RESULTS The mean scores of self-management, desire for learning, self-control and the overall SDLR were 51.3 ± 5.9, 48.4 ± 5.5, 59.9 ± 6.7, and 159.6 ± 13.8; respectively. About 77% (211) of students have high level of SDLR. The percentages of converger, diverger, assimilator and accommodator learning styles are 35.6%, 25.8%, 25.55% and 13.1%; respectively. The mean score of self-management, desire for learning, self-control and overall SDLR scale did not vary with any of the studied variables. There is no association between the level of SDLR and the learning styles. CONCLUSIONS The high level of SDLR and the dominant converger learning style among undergraduate nursing students will have a positive implication for their education and post-employment continuing nursing education.

[1]  D. Kolb,et al.  The Learning Way , 2009, The Oxford Handbook of Lifelong Learning, Second Edition.

[2]  D. Kolb,et al.  Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: Enhancing Experiential Learning in Higher Education , 2005 .

[3]  Santhamma James,et al.  Learning styles of first-year undergraduate nursing and midwifery students: a cross-sectional survey utilising the Kolb Learning Style Inventory. , 2012, Nurse education today.

[4]  Rodney Anthony Stewart,et al.  Investigating the link between self directed learning readiness and project-based learning outcomes: the case of international Masters students in an engineering management course , 2007 .

[5]  Evelyn Doreen McCollin.  Faculty and student perceptions of teaching styles: Do teaching styles differ for traditional and nontraditional students? , 1998 .

[6]  H. Yuan,et al.  Chinese baccalaureate nursing students' readiness for self-directed learning. , 2012, Nurse education today.

[7]  Kuan-Chia Lin,et al.  Development and preliminary testing of a self-rating instrument to measure self-directed learning ability of nursing students. , 2010, International journal of nursing studies.

[8]  Yu-Fen Chen,et al.  Explore the Relationships Among Demography, Personality Traits and Self-Directed Learning , 2006 .

[9]  T. Levett-Jones.  Self-directed learning: implications and limitations for undergraduate nursing education. , 2005, Nurse education today.

[10]  MeLisa A Gantt.  Nurse as Educator: Principles of Teaching and Learning for Nursing Practice , 2003 .

[11]  M. Fisher,et al.  Development of a self-directed learning readiness scale for nursing education. , 2001, Nurse education today.

[12]  A. Z. Linares.  Learning styles of students and faculty in selected health care professions. , 1999, The Journal of nursing education.

[13]  M. Yarmohammadian,et al.  SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING READINESS AND LEARNING STYLES AMONG NURSING STUDENTS OF ISFAHAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES , 2010 .

[14]  Navkiran K. Shokar,et al.  Self-directed learning: looking at outcomes with medical students. , 2002, Family medicine.

[15]  A. Holder.  Self-directed learning in nurse education: a review of the literature. , 2005 .

[16]  Susan Bacorn Bastable,et al.  Nurse as Educator: Principles of Teaching and Learning for Nursing Practice , 1997 .

[17]  Paulo Freire,et al.  The Learning Way: Meta-cognitive Aspects of Experiential Learning.* , 2008 .

[18]  M. Fisher,et al.  The Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale for nursing education revisited: a confirmatory factor analysis. , 2010, Nurse education today.

[19]  Mei Chen.  Relationships among self-directed learning , learning styles , learning strategies and learning achievement for students of Technology University in Taiwan by using structural equation models , 2011 .

[20]  D. Kolb.  Learning styles and learning spaces: A review of the multidisciplinary application of experiential learning theory in higher education , 2005 .

[21]  Sharan B. Merriam,et al.  The Self-Directed Learning Process of Older, Rural Adults , 2005 .

[22]  I. Khalaf,et al.  Jordanian baccalaureate nursing students' perception of their learning styles. , 2005, International nursing review.

[23]  The learning styles of first year university students , 2005 .

[24]  S. Cavanagh,et al.  The assessment of student nurse learning styles using the Kolb Learning Styles Inventory. , 1995, Nurse education today.