Evaluating the effect of different learning styles on the performance of architecture students in virtual training

Today, turning to virtual education in schools and universities along with face-to-face training is inevitable. Virtual education has received much attention in recent years in Iran. This becomes even more important and valuable when it comes to teaching practical courses. Architecture, as a field in which many of its courses are considered practical, would encounter serious challenges in students' learning if the important points in virtual education are not considered. One of the issues that may be overlooked in the field of virtual education is the discussion of learning differences among students. Learning style is a characteristic that determines how  students learn and how they prefer to learn, and the teacher also learns to identify and guide the needs of individual students. Failure to pay attention to the differences in students’ learning styles, especially in virtual education, where the teacher does not have much visual and face-to-face communication with students, will sometimes lead to a complete lack of transfer of concepts in education. Traditional classroom-based learning, on the other hand, typically leads to a consistent learning process that does not fit the learners’ different needs, while in targeted web-based learning programs, learning can be implemented properly. The cognition of the differences in learning process among students is one of the important factors in developing and improving education. Examining the different styles of students in learning, can be helpful to improve the quality of education and transfer better learning to students, especially in virtual education.

In this article, we try to know the four divisions of students' learning style, and their performance in different courses of architecture. The present study was conducted on 48 architectural students in their first semester (who has started their studies with virtual education) from different degrees) bachelor and associate degree) in architecture and interior design. Architecture students face different attitudes in various academic years. Because of the impact that cognitive changes have on students' learning styles, it was decided to consider the statistical population among the freshmen in order to reduce the impact of changes in students’ learning styles, so that students' initial learning style is identified. SPSS 23 software was used to analyze the data.

The results showed that the majority of architecture students in the bachelor and associate degree, from the selected community, used the adaptive learning style and the students of the interior design group had convergent learning styles. Studies also showed no significant relationship between degree and students' field of study with their performance. Also, the results of studies demonstrated that students with divergent learning style in the theoretical courses of bachelor’s degree in architecture field, had the best performance (with an average of 20), whereas students with convergent learning style in theoretical-practical courses of bachelor’s degree in architecture earned the lowest performance (with an average of 8.25). According to the results of the studies, it seemed that only in the bachelor’s degree students and in the theoretical-practical course (architectural design 2), there was a significant relationship (sig <0.05).

It is suggested that educators be aware of different learning styles at the beginning of each training course in order to consider a specific category for each group of people with a common learning style. By identifying their learning style, learners can use the flexible structure that e-learning allows to achieve the desired learning outcome.