Whittington and Dewar (2002)

[see: Type Inicators and Online Learners]

This paper makes use of the MBTI to look at how different personality types make use of online learning. Quotes Billings (1993) "sociological aspects of learning style have greatest importance on distance education course completion".

The 4-letter personality type indicates which combination of preferences they would ordinarily use in various situations.

Asked students to respond to 4 questions - with the most interesting being: "What I think I need to develop to work better with the online environment is....". This is covered in more depth in the next weblog entry.

Because 'feeling' types made more use of the informal chat areas of the board, whilst 'thinking' types posted little there. So designers need to be aware of the diverse needs of their learners (hence making social area compulsory would disadvantage 'thinking' types).

Include both synchronous and asynchronous comms, but don't make them mandatory. That way the online course can cater for the widest range of learning styles.