Studying Agriculture Through Videotape: Learner Strategies And Cognitive Styles

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe learning strategies used by students enrolled in videotaped courses and to explore associations between selected learning strategies and cognitive style. Results suggest that students took advantage of the convenience that videotaped instruction affords by controlling when, where and for how long instruction tookplace. Furthermore, the distant learners tended to study independently and learned by viewing the videotape, completing reading assignments, and reading class notes. They rarely studied with others and rarely called the instructor. Since learners relied heavily on the videotapes, recommendations were made about how the quality of communication in videotaped courses could be enhanced. Students adopted a relatively consistent approach to learning from videotape. Instructors should be made aware of the learning strategies employed by their distant students and in some cases may wish to recommend alternative approaches. Field-dependent and field-independent students employed very similar learning strategies. Differences were noted that were consistent with the learning style literature. Further research was recommended to determine if practical associations exist between learning strategies and cognitive style in the context of other distance learning delivery media.