Teaching in a Multimedia Cost Accounting Classroom: Do Learning Styles Matter?

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between students’ learning styles and their satisfaction, confidence, and performance in a multimedia-enhanced, junior-level cost accounting classroom. Understanding this relationship is an important step toward understanding how learning occurs in different multimedia environments and, therefore, how instructors can utilize multimedia tools best to further student learning. Marshall and Merritt’s (1986) Learning Style Questionnaire (LSQ) is used in this study to measure learning style instead of Kolb’s more popular, but problematic, Learning Styles Instrument. Our analysis indicates that the LSQ has very promising statistical properties warranting more complete validity testing. The findings of the hypothesis tests indicate a weak relationship between students' learning styles and their confidence in their accounting knowledge, skills and abilities. Specifically, students with the converger learning style exhibited higher confidence than other learning styles. No relationship was found between learning style and satisfaction or performance in the course, suggesting that students of different learning styles are reasonably successful at adapting to a multimedia cost accounting environment.