THE ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT-NURSE LEARNING STYLES USING THE KOLB LEARNING STYLES INVENTORY

The learning styles of 192 Registered General Nursing/DipHE students w as determined using the Kolb Learning Styles Inventory prior to the st udents having any formal contact with lecturing staff. The percentage of students having a predominantly concrete learning style was 53.7%, while 46.3% were predominantly reflective. This finding is in keeping with those of Laschinger & Boss (1984), who suggest that they are supp ortive of Kolb's theoretical tenet that concrete learners tend to choo se people-oriented professions. Chi-squared tests were used to determi ne if the respondent's learning styles varied with either age, sex or having been in employment prior to becoming a nursing student; no stat istically significant associations were found. A further chi-squared a nalysis was performed to see if there was a relationship between learn ing style and those students who possessed: 1) only the DC test, 2) O- levels as highest qualifications, and 3) A-levels as highest qualifica tions - no statistically significant associations were found. There re main measurement problems with the Kolb inventory, and a discussion of some of these issues are presented. The findings have reinforced the need for using a variety of delivery styles with students, with an emp hasis on participation and experiential learning. This need for variet y is essential given the distribution of learning styles found with th e students. Nurse educators are urged to re-examine perceptions and as sumptions about student learning needs.