Learning Styles of Military Learners

Abstract

Learning styles influence the way students learn and how they approach learning situations. Learning styles among students are varied and there are number of factors that may account for such differences in how students learn. Military education system is different from a civil education system. There is lesser evidence on learning styles of military learners and most importantly no evidence from Sri Lankan setting. Therefore, understanding learning styles of military students is an important mission in order to improve the effectiveness of student learning in a military setting. This study aimed to examine whether there is any transformation of military learners’ learning styles over a period of time. A modified version of the standard Kolb’s learning questionnaire by Honey and Mumford was distributed among military students at two levels; that is students of Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) Course Number 12 which consists of 140 masters level students including 14 foreign officers and newly joined officer cadet at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) numbering 208. According to the study 78% of Masters level students show the Activist learning style while 9% of them are Pragmatists, 7% are Reflectors and 6% of them are Theorists. Findings on Cadets indicated 27% ‘Activist’ learning style while 25% of them are Pragmatists, 24% are Reflectors and 24% of them are Theorists. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of military teaching and learning in ways that will accommodate different learning styles of military students to improve their learning in a military setting.