Association between learning style preferences and choices of teaching method among Iranian faculty members: A cross-sectional online survey

Background & Objective: Aligning faculty members' learning styles with their teaching approaches is a complicated topic in education.Understanding these inclinations can help enhance pedagogical practices and build a more inclusive learning environment.Thus, this study examined the relationship between learning style preferences and teaching technique choices among Iranian faculty members.Material & Methods: From May to July 2022, a cross-sectional online survey was conducted among faculty members at Iranian medical universities via the Porsline website.Virtual snowball sampling was used to recruit 526 individuals.The VARK questionnaire was translated into Persian and showed excellent reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.94.The final data collection tools included the translated VARK questionnaire, self-assessment questions about teaching methods, university resources, and digital media center equipment.Analytical methods included descriptive statistics, logistic regression analysis, and chi-square testing for data evaluation. Results:The survey found that clinical teachers preferred reading and writing (54%), whereas fundamental science educators preferred visual-auditory and reading-writing.The effect of gender, field of study, learning style, age, and professional academic factors on the dependent variable, teaching method, was investigated using chi-square tests and logistic regression.The findings revealed that while there was no significant relationship between the variable gender and teaching method, significant associations were found with the variables field of study, learning style, age, and professional academic.Notably, it was observed that the effect size of field of study, age, and professional academic on teaching method is small, while for learning style, it is medium in magnitude. Conclusion:The study uncovers a significant correlation between learning styles and teaching methods, suggesting that their learning backgrounds may shape teachers' teaching methods.