Learning Styles Preferences Among Third Year Optometry Students of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

This study is conducted to determine learning style preferences among optometry students from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. In addition, differences in learning style in terms of gender and ethnicity will also be compared. Thirty-five respondents comprising of third year Optometry students were asked to answer the Learning Style Questionnaire by Honey and Mumford. They were asked to recall their learning styles for two modules; visual perception and binocular vision. The findings of this study showed that the students have similar learning styles for both modules. In visual perception module, the most dominant learning style is reflector (42.9%), followed by pragmatist (37.1%) and the least preferred is theorist (20%). Similarly, in binocular vision module, the most dominant style is reflector (54.3%), followed by pragmatist (34.3%) and theorist (11.4%). We found gender differences in learning styles where male students are dominantly pragmatist while female students are reflector. There is no difference in learning style in terms of ethnicity for reflector and pragmatist but theorist were found among Chinese students only. In conclusion, each student has their specific learning style. It is important that they understand the strength and weaknesses of their learning styles in order to achieve academic excellence.