Learning Style Preferences Assessed by Kolb's Learning Style Inventory among Respiratory Therapy Students in Saudi Arabia

Introduction: The concept of learning styles has many implications for students and educators. Implementing a variety of teaching strategies by identifying and applying the student learning styles would enhance teaching effectiveness by increasing the information retention and depth of comprehension. Aim: To determine the learning style of respiratory therapy (RT) students using Arabic translated Kolb's learning style questionnaire. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional, prospective study among RT students in a private medical college in Saudi Arabia. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) Questionnaire was translated to Arabic and validated. Questionnaire was sent in the Google form and the spreadsheet was created from the responses. The LSI questionnaire was sent to the students through the official E-mail ID requesting them to participate in this survey. Student's learning style was calculated according to Kolb's LSI manual. Descriptive statistics are reported as frequency and percentages. SPSS 16.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, Illinois, USA) was used. Results: A total of 84 participants (25 males, 59 females) responded out of the 150 survey questionnaires that was sent (response rate: 56%). Most students had the Active Experimentation (AE) pattern of learning. The dominant learning style was convergent among the respondents. Both male and female participants had AE as the prominent learning style. Conclusion: Arabic translation of Kolb's Learning style questionnaire is found to be valid instrument for the assessment of RT students. The convergent style is the dominant learning style among RT students.