Learning styles of allied health students using Kolb's LSI-IIa

The purpose of this study was to assess the learning style preferences of students enrolled in various allied health professional programs. Five professions were examined: nursing, physician assistant (PA), occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech-language pathology (SLP). The assessment instrument used was the Kolb Learning Style Inventory LSI-IIa. The study included 89 subjects from the various allied health care programs enrolled at a small midwestern university. Findings indicated similar learning style preferences between nursing, OT, PA, and SLP student groups. Students from these groups exhibited a close balance between all four learning styles. The nursing and SLP groups showed a slight preference for concrete experimentation, whereas the OT and PA groups preferred abstract conceptualization. The learning style of the PT students was that of converger, with a strong tendency toward active experimentation versus reflective observation. An emphasis needs to be placed on student learning styles and its impact in the educational process. An understanding and incorporation of learning styles in the education of health care providers could have a positive impact not only on the teaching and learning process but also on the effectiveness of interdisciplinary team interactions and the patient educational process.