Instructional design strategies to support research subjects with traumatic brain injury.

摘要

Learning is defined as the gaining of knowledge or skill. Learning is a neurobiological formation of multi-dimensional synapses yielding neural pathways or routes. Each student has an individual neurobiological formation resulting in personalized methods to acquire, comprehend and recognize data, which constitutes their learning style. Within the Canfield Learning Style Inventory is a modality or mode of learning. The learning mode refers to the basic sensory cognitive mode in which new data may be acquired. The four (4) modes are Direct Experience, Iconic, Listening, and Reading. This study explored the use of a cognitive rehabilitation approach for its potential application to distance course design for traumatically brain injured patients (TBI). It involved designing instruction for a science unit based on four of Canfield's learning modality using a quantitative (quasi-experimental design) methodology. Participants were 30 volunteers who suffered a mild TBI (mTBI), supervised through a private medical practice in the metropolitan Washington D.C. -- Baltimore area. Two groups were created consisting of an experimental group that took the course based on their learning modes and a control group who were instructed in the traditional lecture and text distance course. All participants were given a pre- and post-assessment on science knowledge, and a pre/post-course survey to determine demographic and student attitudes. Data were compiled and compared to determine whether there was a relationship between non-treatment and treatment phases. Results of this study demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in mTBI student learning when instructional stategies are equated to learning modes compared to instructional strategies that are not matched to the mTBI students' learning modes.