Teaching and learning styles: A contrast between Ireland and China

In 2008 the Institute of Technology Tallaght Dublin (ITTD) and the Nanjing University of Technology (NJUT) began a joint BEng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering Degree programme. Students spend the first three years in NJUT (Jiangsu, China) being jointly taught by ITTD and NJUT lecturers. They will complete their final year in ITTD. The NJUT teaching and learning experience was observed to be different from that in ITTD. The learning styles of first year students in ITTD have been analysed over a number of years. As a result of the teaching experience in NJUT it was decided to survey and analyse the Chinese students using the same model as the Irish students. It was found that the majority of Chinese and Irish students had learning styles that were sensing, visual, and active. However the ITTD students tended to be sequential learners where as the NJUT students tended to be global learners.