Felder-Soloman’s Index of Learning Styles: Internal Consistency, Temporal Stability, and Factor Structure

Abstract

Background: Strategies to facilitate learning include using knowledge of students’ learning style preferences to inform students and their teachers. Purpose: Aims of this study were to evaluate the factor structure, internal consistency, and temporal stability of medical student responses to the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) and determine its appropriateness as an instrument for medical education. Methods: The ILS assesses preferences on four dimensions: sensing/intuitive information perceiving, visual/verbal information receiving, active/reflective information processing, and sequential/global information understanding. Students entering the 2002–2007 classes completed the ILS; some completed the ILS again after 2 and 4 years. Results: Analyses of responses supported the ILS’s intended structure and moderate reliability. Students had moderate preferences for sensing and visual learning. Conclusions: This study provides evidence supporting the appropriateness of the ILS for assessing learning style preferences in medical students.