Does gender affect online learning?

In the new territory of online courses, much exploration is needed on how differing learning styles and gender differences affect the learning experience. These issues are just beginning to sink in for many who design and instruct online courses, according to Dr. Diana Garland, associate director of academic outreach at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield. Garland, along with Dr. Barbara Martin, professor of educational administration and doctoral program coordinator at Southwest Missouri State, studied the relationship between learning styles and level of engagement of online students, and whether gender affects it. They presented their findings at the 19th annual conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison WI in August and discussed their research with WIHE.

About the study

Garland and Martin used 91 students from five upper division and graduate online courses using the Blackboard course management system. Students completed the Kolb Learning Style Inventory 3, designed to identify their preferred learning styles: Diverging, Assimilating, Converging or Accommodating. A student's learning style is determined by how she or he perceives and processes information in four stages: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. Of the 91 students, 61 completed the Kolb Inventory: 35 females and 26 males, with a mean age of 28.75 years. Overall, the dominant learning style of the online students was Assimilating. Their definition: "This style has the dominant learning abilities of reflective observation and abstract conceptualization. Individuals with this style excel at inductive reasoning and assimilating observations. These individuals want theory to be precise and logically sound. [They] are less concerned with people and more concerned with ideas and abstract concepts. The question associated with this style is 'What?'"

Having identified their learning styles, Garland and Martin checked how often each student used areas:

• Communication area: threaded discussion boards, shared discussion board attachments and virtual office hours
• Main content area: non-interactive course materials
• Group pages: accessible to specific student groups
• Student area: tools to help students manage course work Then they analyzed the data by gender.

Their findings

They found no significant relationship between learning style and level of student engagement in the four course areas. But they did find a relationship when they divided by gender. Specifically, male students who favored the Abstract Conceptualization mode of learning accessed the communications area more. There were also some strong correlations that suggest gender differences in how students participate in online courses. For example, females who favor the reflective observation mode of learning use the group area more, and those who favor the abstract conceptualization mode of learning use it less. They also found males favoring the Concrete Experience mode of learning were more likely to use both the main content and group areas, and those preferring the Abstract Conceptualization mode used the student area more. "The differences between the level of engagement for the online female and male students identified in this study are consistent with previous studies," Garland told WIHE. Their results buttressed 1999 research finding that male students viewed the computer as a tool to gain power, speed and control, while female students viewed it as a tool for connected learning, relationships and cooperation.

The needs of diverse learners

Martin told WIHE: "One of the reasons why universities are going to virtual campuses and online classes is to meet the ever-changing student population from traditional students to non-traditional students. In order to maximize the effectiveness of these online courses, designers must be astute to the needs of diverse learners. Our research supports the premise that women and men can experience entirely different realities in the same course." Garland has found general agreement among her colleagues about the importance of taking learning style differences into consideration when designing and instructing online courses. "But males tend to think there is not a difference, while females tend to believe there is a difference and that we need to take gender issues into consideration, not only when designing the courses but also programs to make sure we have equitable representation," she said. They recommend:

• Instructors need an awareness of the variety of learning styles and should provide a myriad of activities that address all learning styles.
• Online courses should carefully be designed to assist with the construction of knowledge by supporting individual learning styles and by showing learners the links among pieces of information.
• Instructors need to be aware of how discussions, chats and groups are affected by gender and ensure both genders are being "heard" online.
• Because the majority of online learners in their study were assimilators, instructors should design and conduct appropriate learning activities that will strengthen these students' engagement rates and assist them in answering the "what?" question.
• Course work should involve plenty of opportunities for input from both the instructor and fellow students.

Seeing issues of inclusion and equity, Garland and Martin plan to build on their research. "When females are excluded from the distance-learning planning, there is a danger of unintentional discrimination against female students when policymakers neglect to take into consideration gender-specific perspectives," they said.