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.