Using learning styles to personalize online learning

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of research aimed at collecting the data necessary for preparing personalised content of e‐learning courses. Its aim is to show how the information describing individual learning styles can be linked to the rules of creating tailored online courses.

The paper gives a brief explanation of how personalization is understood for the purpose of research carried out by the author and what are the psychological backgrounds of the applied approach. It presents also a KS‐TIW questionnaire, based on Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory.

As it is not possible to define infinite number of different course models corresponding to every single learner a concept of defining several learner profiles which would represent various types of learning preferences is described.

The final part of the paper shows how the data concerning one's learning preferences can be transferred into particular type of learning content with special emphasis on a form of learning content delivery and type of activities planned for individual learner.

This research goes one step further than typical approach to personalization in e‐learning, which is usually understood either by freedom of choosing the time and the place of learning or by adapting the layout of virtual learning environment (VLE) to one's individual needs. Quite rarely the solutions offered in VLE's enable the learner to choose among the forms and methods the learning content is delivered.