Who profits most from blended learning?

The authors investigate the relationship between student learning choices and learning styles in the use of an innovative learning environment for statistics. For teaching introductory statistics to first-year students in economics and business, maastricht university uses a blended learning environment. It allows students to individualize learning by attuning the available learning tools to their personal preferences. The blended learning environment consists of tutorials focused on problem-based learning, lectures, independent learning and an electronic learning environment (aleks) based on knowledge space theory. The paper examines the intensity of use of aleks and investigates the relationship between this and student learning dispositions in a correlational study. Data from around 4,650 students are used. The findings suggest that less academically-inclined students, such as those with ‘surface’ approaches to learning, profit most from the availability of e-learning tools.