The Learning Style-Preferences of Freshmen Nursing Students Payap University in the New Normal

Abstract

This survey study aimed to examine the learning style preferences of first-year nursing students studying at Payap University. The subjects were the first-year students enrolled in the first semester of 2021. Ninety-eight students were included. The research instrument used in the study was VARK questionnaires (version 7.0). The data were analyzed using frequency and percentage. The research results revealed that the majority of the learning style among the students was multimodal learning style-preference 75.51%, single learning style-preference 24.49%. For the single style preference, 46.66% had the kinesthetic learning preference, 29.17% had the read/write learning preference, 25.00% had the auditory learning preference, and 4.17 had visual learning preference.
This finding calls for suitable teaching methods and strategies to meet the needs of the nursing students with multimodal learning style in the new normal. Therefore, strategies used in online teaching models should facilitate different learning style-preferences of learners to gain learning outcome achievement. Future research is needed to examine the effect of using multiple teaching methods or using mixed media for online learning for learners with multimodal learning styles on learning achievement. In addition, the factors affecting the online learning achievement of the learners in the new normal should be explored.