Approaches to learning and levels of understanding - CiteSeerX

Approaches to learning and levels of understanding Influences and responsibilities Noel Entwistle University of Edinburgh

Project web site - http://www.ed.ac.uk/etl

Describing differing ways of learning and studying Main aspects to be covered  ETL model of influences on student learning (Entwistle, 2003)

 Developing conceptions of knowledge/learning  Approaches to learning and studying (Student Learning Questionnaire)

 Influences of different kinds of teaching and assessment on approaches and outcomes (Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire)

Research into student learning Methods and progress  Interviews with students to investigate similarities and differences in their ways of learning and studying  Identification of concepts describing the differences  Development of questionnaires to measure approaches  Further conceptualisation of distinct approaches  Investigation of influences on approaches to studying

INFLUENCES ON STUDENT LEARNING

Students entry characteristics previous knowledge, self-confidence abilities, orientations, and attitudes

Perceptions of the teaching-learning environment

Conceptions of learning & approaches to studying

Quality of learning achieved

How course content is selected, organised, presented and assessed

Constructive alignment

How teaching-learning environment is designed and implemented

Throughlines Logic of teaching and learning the subject

Influences of academic community and validating bodies

What students are expected to learn and understand

University teachers' subject knowledge and pedagogical beliefs

General principles of course design

Influences of department/school and institution

Conceptions of knowledge William Perry

 Knowledge as absolute, provided by authorities  Multiple perspectives; opinions of equal value  Awareness of knowledge as provisional  Evidence used to reason among alternatives  Commitment to a personal, reasoned perspective

A developmental scheme William Perry

Dualism Multiplicity

Intellectual & ethical development

Pivotal position Relativism Commitment But the categories will differ across disciplines depending on the extent to which the knowledge is contested or agreed.

Conceptions of learning Roger Säljö

 Acquiring and reproducing factual information  Memorising what has to be learned

Reproducing

 Applying and using knowledge -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Threshold

 Understanding the meaning for oneself Seeking meaning

 Seeing things in a different way - according to an accepted disciplinary perspective Recognising the different learning processes and using them appropriately

Approaches to learning and studying Ference Marton, Noel Entwistle, Paul Ramsden, ETL project

Analyses of Student Learning Questionnaire produced the following



Deep approach



Surface approach

Approaches to learning

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….



Organised studying

Approaches to studying



Monitoring studying

Strategic approach



Effort management

Components of approaches to studying Each of the main approaches involves an intention and a process which generally leads to a qualitatively different outcome

Deep approach Intention to understand for oneself brings into play the integration of ideas and using evidence and logic in reaching conclusions

Surface approach

Intention to pass without too much effort or thinking leads to inappropriate attempts to rote learn or to follow procedures blindly

Strategic approach

Intention to do well and/or achieve personal goals depends on organising studying, effort, concentration and monitoring studying

Interview extract illustrating a deep approach Electronic engineering as an example There is a great deal to cover, and I am not satisfied unless I really understand what we’re given. I take quite full notes, but afterwards I go through them and check on things which I’m not clear about. Once you realise what lies behind the problems that’s the physics of it and what makes it a problem then you can do them. You get a kick out of it too, when it all begins to make sense. Applying the right formula is not difficult, once you know you are on the right lines.

Interview extract illustrating a surface approach I suppose I’m mainly concerned about being able to remember all the important facts and theories that we’ve been given in the lectures. We are given an awful lot of stuff to learn, so I just plough through it as best I can. I try to take it all down in the lectures, and then go over it until I’m sure they won’t catch me out in the exams... (With the problem sheets,) the first step is to decide which part of the lecture course the problem comes from. Then I look through my notes until I find an example that looks similar, and I try it out. Basically, I just apply the formula and see if it works. If it doesn’t, I try a different formula.

Variations in approaches to learning  Marked differences in the typical approaches exist; students also vary their approach between courses and so few students can be consistently labelled  The ways of thinking and learning processes involved in a deep approach differ between subject areas  Students enter university with well established conceptions and approaches to studying  Students will only alter established approaches if those no longer seem to be producing good results

Possible ways of influencing approaches  Direct teaching of general study methods & strategies  Discussion among students about their methods  Introducing the notions of deep, surface & strategic students’ own responsibility for their studying  Using inventories to discuss individual responses  Using inventories to monitor approaches to learning in relation to students’ experiences of teaching  Designing teaching-learning environments that consistently encourage a deep approach

Teaching relating to a deep approach Marion Ryan et al.

In veterinary medicine at UCD,  Integration of subjects across disciplines  References to further reading  Discussions with lecturers after class  Exams that require discussion of concepts  Study groups  Practical write-ups  Perceived relevance to professional practice  Perception that work load was too high (- ve)

Teaching not significantly related to deep Marion Ryan et al. ,

 Lectures that deliver factual information  Lectures that involve discussion  Multimedia physiology (CAL)  Biophysics (CAL)  Videos  Diagrams  Clinical examples incorporated into teaching  Tutorials

Student perceptions of good lectures Noel Entwistle

 Clarity of speaking and overheads  Level appropriate to most of the class  Pace appropriate to most of the class  Structure logically developed and easy to follow  Explanation clear and well illustrated with examples  Enthusiasm for the subject lively and consistent  Empathy with students and their potential difficulties

Constructive alignment and throughlines John Biggs / David Perkins (International consultants to ETL) Constructive alignment involves choosing aims that demand individual understanding, ensuring that teaching methods encourage and support those aims and that assignments and assessment focus on, and reward, the achievement of those aims. The students are ‘entrapped’ in this web of consistency, optimising the likelihood that they will engage in the appropriate learning activities, but paradoxically leaving them free to construct their knowledge (Biggs, 2003, p. 27) Throughlines reflect what teachers’ believe is most important for students to learn in their course. These goals are set out clearly and revisited regularly during the course to keep students’ learning focused on them (adapted from Wiske, 2003, p. 11)

Concepts being developed in ETL project Ways of thinking and practising in the subject describe the richness, depth and breadth of what students might learn through engagement with a given subject area in a specific context, including understandings, forms of discourse, and values or ways of acting which are regarded as central to graduate-level mastery of a discipline or subject area (Hounsell & McCune,in press)

Threshold concepts can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress. (Meyer & Land, 2003, p. 1)

Delayed understanding (Scheja, 2002) “In second year I got a better understanding of what I learnt in first year. Now, in third year, I’ve kind of learnt what I was supposed to know in second year. It’s a shame I never felt that I’ve learned it in the actual year taught” (student quoted in Entwistle et al.)

INFLUENCES ON STUDENT LEARNING

Students entry characteristics previous knowledge, self-confidence abilities, orientations, and attitudes

Perceptions of the teaching-learning environment

Conceptions of learning & approaches to studying

Quality of learning achieved

How course content is selected, organised, presented and assessed

Constructive alignment

How teaching-learning environment is designed and implemented

Throughlines Logic of teaching and learning the subject

Influences of academic community and validating bodies

What students are expected to learn and understand

University teachers' subject knowledge and pedagogical beliefs

General principles of course design

Influences of department/school and institution

Subject benchmarks

External validation

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

Teaching conventions

Employers' views

Popularity of the subject

TEACHING-LEARNING ENVIRONMENT in electronic engineering Lectures, e-learning and other materials

Time-table arrangements

Feedback to and from students

Workload

Assignments and worked examples

INSTITUTIONAL INFLUENCES

Student intake

Assessment criteria and procedures

Accommodation

Subject-based support for learning skills Tutorials and other student support

Regulation of assessment etc.

Laboratories and simulations

Quality assurance & performance indicators

Level of RAE and other funding

Experiences of teaching and learning ETL project Analysis of the Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire produced the following main factors



Course organisation and congruence

 Teaching for understanding with prompt feedback 

Interest, enjoyment and relevance



Staff enthusiasm and supportiveness



Support from other students

Changes in approaches to studying Percentage responses to items before and during three analogue units (from Entwistle et al., 2004)

(overall N = 172)

Course units

A

B

C

I usually set out to understand

Before During

95.6 72.1

87.5 82.5

81.2 75.0

Trouble making sense of things

Before During

25.0 61.8

40.0 55.0

43.7 34.4

Generally put a lot of effort into studying

Before During

60.3 51.5

77.5 60.0

53.1 40.6

Systematic and organised in studying

Before During

65.9 44.1

62.5 47.5

46.9 50.0

Ways of thinking in analogue electronics ETL analysis suggesting components within a deep approach

 Appreciating the overall function of a circuit  Recognising the crucial groups of components  Seeing how to set about analysing different circuits  Acquiring the necessary analytic tools for solutions  Building a memory bank of contrasting examples  Thinking intuitively in designing new circuits

Essential teaching-learning activities ETL analyses of staff & student interviews in analogue electronics 

Circuits linked to real-life illustrations from industry

 Main circuit components highlighted in diagrams  Functions of circuits fully explained with examples  Ways of thinking about circuits exemplified  Students work through varied examples  Staff provide worked examples with explanations  Sufficient tutors available to provide prompt advice  Progress monitored in tutorial work and tests

Helpfulness of teaching-learning activities in three contrasting second-year analogue course units Mean ratings on 1 -7 scale

Unit A

Unit B

Unit C

(N = 59)

(73)

(27)



The way diagrams presented

5.0

5.3

5.9



The way ideas explained in lectures

4.3

5.6

5.2



Lecture explanations of problems

4.2

5.8

4.9



Worked examples provided

5.0

3.6

5.7



Working on problems on own

5.2

4.6

5.3



Using the log-book

4.2

4.3

5.1



Staff help in tutorials

5.0

4.0

5.9



Discussions with other students

4.8

4.7

5.0



Feedback on work submitted

3.5

3.6

2.6



Class tests and the results

4.3

4.2

not given

Teaching-learning activities encouraging a deep approach ETL analyses of staff & student interviews in analogue electronics

 Links with prior work and other units made clear  Enthusiasm for the subject shared with students  Imaginative use of simulation packages & intranet  Recognition of problem areas without implied threat  Patient explanations provided in tutorials  Students record solutions/comments systematically  Students encouraged to discuss solutions in groups

References Biggs, J. B. (2003). Teaching for Quality Learning at University. (2nd Ed). Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press. Bowden, J., & Marton, F. (1998). The University of Learning. London: Kogan Page. Entwistle, N. J. (1998). Improving teaching through research in student learning. In J. J. F. Forest (Ed.), University Teaching: International Perspectives (pp. 73-112). New York: Garland Publishing. Entwistle, N. J. (2003). Concepts and conceptual frameworks underpinning the ETL project. ETL Occasional Reports, 3, at http://www.ed.ac.uk/etl Entwistle, N. J., Nisbet, J. B., & Bromage, A. (2004). Teaching-learning environments and student learning in electronic engineering. Paper available at http://www.ed.ac.uk/etl Entwistle, N. J., et al. (in press). Teaching and learning analogue electronics in undergraduate courses: preliminary findings from the ETL project, International Journal of Electrical Engineering Journal. Marton, F. & Säljö, R. (1997). Approaches to learning. In F. Marton, D. J. Hounsell and N. J. Entwistle (Eds.), The Experience of Learning (2nd Edn.). Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, soon to be available at http://www.ed.ac.uk/etl

References (continued) McCune, V. & Hounsell, D. (in press). The development of students’ ways of thinking and practising in three final-year biology courses, Higher Education. Meyer, J. H. F., & Land, R. (2002). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: linkages to ways of thinking and practising within the disciplines. In C. Rust (Ed.). Improving student learning: improving student learning theory and practice – 10 years on (pp. 412-424). Oxford Brookes University: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development. Perry, W. G. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: a scheme. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Ramsden. P. (2003). Learning to Teach in Higher Education: London: Routledge Falmer. Ryan, M. T., Irwin, J. A., Bannon, F. J., Mulholland, C. W., & Baird, A. W. (2004). Observations of vetinary medecine students’ approaches to study in preclinical years. Journal of Veterinary Medicine Education, 31, 242-254, Scheja, M. (2002). Contextualising Studies in Higher Education: First-year Experiences of Studying and Learning in Engineering. (Ph.D. thesis, Department of Education, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 2002). Wiske, M. S. (Ed.) (1998). Teaching for Understanding. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. (Contains a chapter by David Perkins)