"Assessing Pharmacy Students' Learning Styles and Personality Types: A Ten-Year Analysis "

Abstract

A ten-year analysis of 1,313 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is presented to address learning styles in pharnacy students. Objectives were to present a ten-year view of pharmacy student's learning styles, identify differences in pharmacy students versus the general college student population, and compare personality types of students choosing to track into the PharmD Program with those in the BS Pharmacy program. Compared to the general college poplation, the distribution of pharmacy students differed in several personality types measured by the Myerss-Briggs Type Indicator. Generally, Drake pharmacy student's modal type remained introvert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging, (ISTJ) to Introvert, Sensing, Feeling, Judging (ISFJ) for the ten years of data. Female pharmacy students were 72 percent more likely to have feeling as a dominant function. Females were also more likely to have a judging preference. When compared to BS Pharmacy students, PharmD students were more than three times more likely to be Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging (ENFJ). This analysis provided learning and teaching style information for both students and faculty. It is timely as colleges attempt to change students to independent learners. The key to successfully implementing ability-based outcomes and active learning may lie with the use of a variety of strategies that help students with different preferences.