Cognitive Style and Achievement in Distance Education: The Impact of Matching Instructional Design and Cognitive Style on Learner Achievement in Asynchronous Distance Education

Field dependent and field independent cognitive styles are contrasting ways of perceiving and processing information. This study investigated how the cognitive styles of field dependence (FD) and field independence (FI) affect the achievement levels of distance learners. This research examined the matching or mismatching the design of asynchronous distance education to the field dependent and the field independent learner.Subjects were administered the GEFT, a measure of field dependence-independence. Only those in the first (Field Dependent) and fourth (Field Independent) quartiles of the resulting distribution participated the study. Half of each group was randomly selected to receive asynchronous online instruction matching their cognitive style, and half received asynchronous online instruction mismatching their cognitive style. Matching the FD cognitive style, in asynchronous distance education had a positive impact on achievement for both Field Dependent and Field Independent learners as measured from pre to post test.