Self-directed learning readiness and learning styles among Taibah nursing students

Abstract

Background: Advancements in nursing education programs stimulate the modifications in teaching and learning approaches to enhance nursing students' capabilities. Assessing students' learning styles and readiness to learn are essential components to guide such changes. Aim: This study aims to determine the nursing students' readiness for self-directed learning (SDL) and their learning styles. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive, analytical research design was utilized in the present study. Two-hundred and thirteen nursing students studying two programs (regular and bridging) responded to the study instruments: demographics, SDL readiness (SDLR), and student-recorded responses to an online visual, aural/auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic (VARK) survey. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (version 20) to identify the descriptive and bivariate outcomes. Results: The response rate was 76%. Learning style results showed that aural, read-write, visual, and kinesthetic learning styles accounted for 19.7%, 8.5%, 6.6%, and 25.8% of participants, respectively. Desire for learning subscales were statistically significant for gender (t = 1.985, P = 0.048), academic level (F = 2.969, P = 0.033), and mode (t = 3.610, P = 0.001). The overall SDLR scale scores were significant for residence (t = 4.938, P = 0.001) and learning style (F = 5.197, P = 0.002). Conclusion: The study revealed that participants prefer to learn using unimodal VARK modalities, and the dominant learning style was kinesthetic. The participants' level of readiness for SDL and their self-control were high compared to the other SDLR subscales. The results showed a significant connection between the participants' learning styles and the variables of their readiness for SDL.

Keywords

• Learning style
• nursing
• Saudi Arabia
• self-directed learning
• undergraduate