Learning profiles and academic performance of undergraduate students

Abstract

This study investigates student learning profiles and their relationship to academic performance among undergraduate students. Seventy-one undergraduate students from a teacher education program completed a modified MED NORD. The analysis of student responses to the MED NORD distinguished two dominant learning profiles of students based upon their tendency to display more learning-promotive versus learning-inhibitive behaviors. The two profiles of students were identified as being secure (38 students) or insecure (33 students). Further analysis indicated that students in the secure learning profile group performed academically superior (higher semester GPA) to students with an insecure learning profile (lower semester GPA). An additional aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the MED NORD instrument and the Adapted Basic Needs Satisfaction Scale (ABNSS) as well as to determine if there was a relationship between the identified student learning profiles (secure and insecure) and students’ responses on the ABNSS. An analysis of the learning profiles in relation to the ABNSS found no statistical significance. Upon further investigation into the relationship between the MED NORD and the ABNSS, there were seven statistically significant correlations noted between subscales of the two instruments. Based upon an analysis of this, it is suggested that future research consider combining the MED NORD and the ABNSS into one instrument, which could be of greater benefi…