Student and faculty learning styles in a Canadian and a Chilean self-directed, problem-based nursing program.

A descriptive comparative study was conducted to identify and compare/contrast the learning styles of nursing faculty and entry-level students in 2 self-directed (SDL), problem-based (PBL) nursing programs. The Kolb LSI-1985 was administered to 94 first-year generic students, 63 post-R.N. students, and 22 faculty members in a Canadian university nursing program. A Spanish translation was completed by 37 incoming nursing students and 13 faculty members in a Chilean university. One-way ANOVA analysis of group mean scores showed significant differences among the 4 student groups in the active experimentation learning mode. Post hoc tests confirmed that Chilean students are less likely to be active learners than their teachers or Canadian students, a finding of significance in preparing students to assume self-direction of their learning. Canadian faculty had higher abstract conceptualization scores than Chilean faculty, which has implications for faculty development of educator roles for SDL/PBL.