title: Learning styles and perceptions of the value of various learning modalities before and after a 2nd-year course in microbiology and infectious diseases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The authors' 4-week course in microbiology and infectious diseases consists of lectures, small-group sessions, interactive computer-assisted learning (CAL), and textbook readings.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine how individual learning style influenced learners' value assessment of these teaching modalities.
  
  
  METHODS
  A Kolb Learning Style Inventory and questionnaire to assess enthusiasm for each teaching modality were administered before the course. At course end, a 2nd questionnaire assessed the perceived usefulness of each teaching modality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Learners with a relative preference for experiential learning rather than abstraction initially favored small groups (R2 = .06, p = .004) and CAL (R2 = .06, p = .005). Similarly, learners with a preference for reflective observation rather than active experimentation favored lectures (R2 = .05, p = .01). However, at course end, Kolb learning style did not predict the value assessment of any modality.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Kolb learning style influenced the initial attractiveness but not the retrospective assessment of learning modalities; hence, quality and content superseded learning style as determinants of value after course completion.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Internal Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. cengleb@umich.edu
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Engleberg
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schwenk
authors.forename: L D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Gruppen
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D016014:Linear Models; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*