İletişim dersleri alan birinci sınıf mühendislik öğrencilerinin sosyal etkileşime dayalı öğrenme stillerindeki değişiklikler

Bu çalışma, Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri'ndeki Petroleum Institute'te İletişim derslerinin, mühendislik öğrencilerinin sosyal etkileşime dayalı öğrenme stillerini kullanımları üzerindeki etkisini belirlemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmaya, 2012-2013 akademik yılında toplam 62 birinci sınıf öğrencisi katılmıştır. Kantitatif veriler, Grasha-Reichmann Öğrenci Öğrenme Stilleri Ölçeği (Grasha-Reichmann Student Learning Style Scales, GRSLSS) kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Ön ve son test sonuçlarını incelemek üzere eşleştirilmiş örnek t-testi ve Wilcoxon testi kullanılmıştır. Kalitatif verileri toplamak amacıyla, onayları alınan 10 katılımcıyla yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme gerçekleştirilmiştir. Sonuçlar, katılımcıların 'işbirlikçi', 'katılımcı' ve 'sakıngan' stil puanlarının arttığını, 'rekabetçi' ve 'bağımlı' stil puanlarının ise azaldığını göstermiştir. Bu değişikliklerin bazılarının öğrencilerin sürekli olarak ekip çalışmalarında bulunduklarından, bazılarının ise eğitim aldıkları ortamın çok kültürlü özelliğinden kaynaklanmış olabileceği değerlendirilmiştir. Mühendislerin ihtiyaç duydukları sosyal becerileri daha fazla edinebilmeleri için mühendislik öğrencilerinin, daha aktif öğrenme stillerini kullanmalarını sağlayan ekip çalışması etkinliklerine daha fazla yer verilmesi gerekliliği ileri sürülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Değişiklik, GRSLSS, mühendislik eğitimi, öğrenme stilleri.

Adaptation of Social Interaction Learning Styles by Freshman Engineering Students in Communication Courses

This study aimed to determine the effects of communication courses on engineering students use of social interaction learning styles at the Petroleum Institute, the UAE. A total of 62 freshman students participated in the study during 2012-2013 academic year. The quantitative data were collected using the Grasha-Reichmann Student Learning Style Scales (GRSLSS). A paired sample t-test and the Wilcoxon test were used to investigate the pre-test and post-test results. Semi-structured interviews were also held with 10 of the consenting participants to gather qualitative data. The results indicated that the participants adapted some of their learning styles reflected by increased scores for collaborative, participant and avoidant styles and by decreased scores for competitive and dependent styles. Some of these changes were attributed to the participants engagement in constant teamwork as well as multi-cultural aspects of the learning context. It is suggested that engineering students be exposed to more teamwork activities, which involve more active learning styles in order to be better equipped with soft-skills that engineers require.

Keywords:

Adaption, GRSLSS, engineering education, learning styles.,

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