The Relationship Between Personality Traits and Learning Styles and the Academic Success of Online Students

Abstract

Introduction: It is important to consider the factors affecting learning methods. In recent years, virtual education, as a teaching method to fit the needs of today's society, has been considered and the efficacy of this approach has always been questioned. We aimed to investigate the relationship of personality traits and learning styles with the academic achievement of online students.Material & Methods: Senior students of Shiraz e-Learning University (n=195) completed the questionnaires of personality characteristics (NEO-FFI) and Kolb‘s (1984) Learning Styles Inventory. Their final grades were used as indicators to measure academic achievement. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and logistic regression.Results: We found a significant relationship between personality characteristics and learning methods. Among the personality dimensions, neuroticism and agreeableness and among the learning styles, convergent style learning were able to predict the academic success of students in these courses.Conclusion: Our results were informative with respect to the factors influencing learners. Adapting teaching methods consistent with the students’ characteristics could help educational planners enhance the academic success of the students.