Richard Riding, Eugene Sadler-Smith (among others)

Richard Riding,

Formerly Director of Assessment Research Unit

Faculty of Education and Continuing Studies

University of Birmingham

Eugene Sadler-Smith,

Department of Business, Economics and Management,

University of Plymouth Business School,

Plymouth PL4 8AA

Although the usefulness of learning styles is hotly debated and recent research has thrown doubt on the predictive validity and reliability of many of the instruments that have been developed over the past years (Coffield, Moseley, Hall and Ecclestone, 2004), the research carried out in the 1990s by Riding, Sadler-Smith and others had a significant influence on a number of technology based learning projects.  For example, the ICCARUS project used an introductory test to determine the user’s preferred learning style and subsequently adapted the presentation of the learning to take that preference into account.

The possibility of different preferred learning styles in the learner population caused problems for the instructional designer and the developer of the learning programme.  It suggested that there should be a number of alternative routes through the material, adding to the complexity of the programme and, more importantly, adding to the cost.  Some work was carried out with intelligent tutoring systems to incorporate the preferred learning style in the learner model but without conspicuous success.

Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., & Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review, Learning and Skills Research Centre

Riding R (1996) Learning Styles and Technology Based Training Department for Education and Employment (Learning Methods Branch report), Sheffield.

Riding R J and  Eugene Sadler-Smith E (1997) Cognitive Style and Learning Strategies: Some Implications for Training Design International Journal of Training and Development 1 (3), 199–208.