Abstract:

One of the current challenges, particularly in distance teaching over media such as the Internet, is trying to meet the needs of heterogeneous students. Learning styles (ls), if accommodated, can result in improved attitudes toward learning and an increase in productivity, academic achievement, and creativity. Identifying predominant sensory mode was a major focus of this research. Data on learning styles were collected from 194 students from the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering in Belgrade, using Reid's Perceptual Learning-Style Preference Questionnaire. The results show that the auditory is the most prominent learning style for the majority of students, following by visual, tactile, and finally, kinesthetic. The minority of students chose group as major learning style. Gender differences appeared only in ranking of ls, higher percent of females preferred kinesthetic and individual ls, while, for the remaining ls, male students showed stronger preferences. The results indicate that the importance of learning style needs to be more widely acknowledged in higher education.

Keywords:

Learning styles, Predominant sensory mode, Perceptual Learning-Style Preference Questionnaire, Instruction, Transport and Traffic Engineering.