Practice to Research: Rapport as Key to Creating an Effective Learning Environment

Rapport is an instructional variable that is “tricky to understand,” which is perhaps the reason why it is understudied in the extant literature. Certainly, essays, tip lists, and effective teaching mantras often claim rapport as vital to the instructional context, but that is typically the extent of most examinations, particularly in management education. In this practice-to-research article, my experiences are integrated with the limited published evidence surrounding rapport, and research propositions are offered to inform future business education studies.

Field Dependence and Color Coding: A Review and Summary of Research Evidence

The purpose of several studies was to examine the effects that differentially coded (black and white and color) illustrations had on students who were classified as field independent, field neutral, and field dependent on tests measuring different educational objectives. The effects of visual and verbal formats were also examined. In general, results reveal an insignificant interaction between coding type and level of field dependence. However, field dependency was found to be an important instructional variable, and that for some types of learning objectives the process of color coding instructional materials may reduce achievement differences attributed to differences in cognitive style. Unexpectedly, students who received verbal tests across all field dependence levels achieved significant higher mean scores than did those who received the visual test formats.

Learner Interaction in a Computer-Based Instructional Lesson

While interaction has consistently been described as an important instructional variable, there is little research to support how it is specifically used by various learners within a computer-based lesson. Based on this lack of research, this exploratory study attempts to quantify some of the interactions that take place between learners and a computer-based instructional lesson teaching basic memory skills. Statistically significant results from this study indicate that subjects aged thirty to thirty-nine had a tendency to repeat computer screens in some instructional modules while students with lower undergraduate grade point averages tended to skip some computer screens altogether.

Effect of Cognitive Style on Test Type (Visual or Verbal) and Color Coding

66 field-independent undergraduates achieved significantly higher scores than 43 field-dependent students on drawing, terminology, and comprehension. Color coding was an inconclusive instructional variable, but unexpectedly, subjects who received the verbal tests scored significantly better than those who received the visual test format.

Effect of Color Coding on Visually and Verbally Oriented Tests with Students of Different Field Dependence Levels

To assess the impact of instructional color coding on visually and verbally oriented tests and on field-dependent-independent subjects, undergraduate college students (119) were randomly assigned to two treatment groups (color—black and white). These subjects received their respective treatment and received four dependent measures measuring four different types of educational objectives. Results indicated that the subject's level of field dependence is an important instructional variable and that color coding is an effective variable for maximizing information acquisition levels for field dependent over oriented subjects.