Adjusting learning styles and instructional preferences for online courses.

In online classes, most students are attracted by the convenience and flexibility of scheduling (Ryan 2001). However, the students' learning characteristics are unknown, making it difficult to design effective instruction. Therefore the first step in understanding students' learning characteristics in online education would be to determine students' learning styles and see if there are any differences in learning styles between students enroll in an online education course and their equivalent of face-to-face counterparts.