Exploring learning congruence and the availability of diverse educational resources: a study conducted in the field of management education

Abstract

Teaching innovation entails constantly adapting to evolving learning environments and diverse audiences. University educators have generated a plethora of materials to accommodate various modes of instruction, such as distance learning, blended learning, or synchronous and asynchronous teaching systems, facing a multitude of learning profiles and study techniques in a classroom. This diversity led us to propose the same content from a business administration course in different formats: text-based, graphics-based and audio-based materials. The use of different materials is attractive for students because of their novelty, but lecturers are unaware of their effectiveness in their learning outcomes. In order to explore these implications in management education, this research aims at finding out whether the availability of various types of educational materials in a business administration course and the congruence between declared learning preferences and the type of material received influences students´ learning outcomes. The results of an experiment carried out on 253 first-year students of the course Introduction to Business Economics show, in line with other studies, that the relationship is not direct but that having a variety of materials available is more responsive to the reality of the student body and increases satisfaction and active learning.