Using learning dimensions within the Effective Lifelong Learning ...

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education

ISSN: 1759-667X

Issue 11: April 2017

Using learning dimensions within the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) as indicators of academic success in Biosciences Suad Awad Northumbria University, UK Mirela Cuculescu-Santana Northumbria University, UK

Abstract The Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) was developed by the University of Bristol and aimed to raise students’ awareness of their own learning power; summarised in seven key dimensions related to the learners’ dispositions, attitudes and behaviours associated with learning (Deakin-Crick and Small, 2006; Deakin-Crick, 2007; Deakin-Crick, Broadfoot and Claxton, 2004). This study used ELLI with level 4 and level 6 cohorts in Biosciences programmes at Northumbria University as an indicator of academic performance. The dimension with the highest mean score for level 4 students was ‘meaning making’, followed by ‘changing and learning’. ‘Creativity’ had the lowest mean score. Students were divided into two groups with respect to their academic achievement; the ‘successful’ and the ‘satisfactory’ group. The successful group scored higher in all dimensions, compared to the satisfactory group. The differences in the scores for ‘meaning making’ and ‘creativity’ were statistically significant. Large differences were also found for ‘changing and learning’, ‘strategic awareness’ and ‘resilience’. Interestingly, all of these, with the exception of ‘meaning making’, were also the dimensions for which Level 6 students scored higher than Level 4 students, but the differences were not statistically significant. Results indicated that ELLI is a useful tool for identifying key dispositions in successful learners, which could inform interventions to improve learning within a cohort.

Awad

Using learning dimensions within the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) as indicators of academic success in Biosciences

Keywords: ELLI; student achievement; student success; student learning.

Introduction Lifelong learning is a term that has been used widely in a variety of contexts. It has been described as continuous, deliberate, self-directed learning (Simper et al., 2016) using learning opportunities afforded throughout life. According to the developers of ELLI (Deakin-Crick et al., 2004; 2013) it is influenced by the learning power summarised in the seven key dimensions discussed in this report. These are essential attributes for biosciences graduates, given the rapidly evolving nature of biological sciences and the rapidly changing employment market. This is reflected in the recently revised ‘subject benchmark statements for Biosciences’ (QAA, 2015) which state that, in addition to the subject-specific knowledge and skills, biosciences graduates should demonstrate welldeveloped lifelong learning strategies for continually updating and enhancing their knowledge and effective time management, organisational, enterprise and knowledge transfer skills to enable them to complete complex and challenging tasks. Lifelong learning power has been usually discussed in terms of capabilities and dispositions (Smith and Spurling, 1999; Carr and Claxton, 2002; Entwistle and McCune, 2013), where the former includes the skills and strategies required for learning and the latter involves characteristics that enable the learner to be ready and willing to take learning opportunities, such as ‘habits of mind, tendencies to respond to situations in certain ways’ (Katz, 1988, p.30), in addition to a level of metacognition and ‘disposition to understand for oneself’ (Entwistle and McCune, 2013, p.277). All of these are complex concepts, difficult to quantify. Deakin-Crick and colleagues (Deakin-Crick and Small, 2006; Deakin-Crick et al., 2015) validated the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) as a reliable tool for measuring learning power, without specific reference to disciplines. The ELLI is an online selfreporting questionnaire with 72 questions about behaviours, attitudes and feelings related to learning. The associated software converts the answers into scores from 0 to 100 for seven dimensions: changing and learning, critical curiosity, meaning making, creativity, resilience, strategic awareness and learning relationships, defined as shown in Table 1 (Deakin-Crick and Small, 2006; Deakin-Crick et al., 2015). Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 11: April 2017

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The ELLI was used both for raising learners’ awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses and for enabling academic staff to ‘measure’ the learning power of a cohort, identify elements essential for effective learning and devise suitable pedagogical interventions to improve achievement (Deakin-Crick et al., 2004; Deakin-Crick and Yu, 2008; Deakin-Crick et al., 2013). In this study, the ELLI questionnaire was used as an assessment tool to explore differences in dispositions between learners with different academic achievements among level 4 (first year) and level 6 (final year) students on Biosciences programmes at the University of Northumbria. The aim was to identify dispositions and attributes of successful learners and use these to devise strategies to boost weaker dimensions and improve learning in weaker members of the cohorts, to improve retention and progression and enhance graduate employability. Academic success has been attributed to many factors, such as economic, social, cognitive, gender, and approaches to learning (Cattell 1965; Jacobs et al., 1996; Mills et al., 2009; Biggs and Tang, 2011; Herrmann et al., 2016), but there is less clear evidence to link learning dispositions to academic success. It would be pertinent, therefore, to examine the qualities and dispositions of effective successful learners, as measured by the ELLI.

Methodology 2.1 Study design This was an exploratory study conducted by invitation of first year students on the Biomedical Sciences and Human Biosciences programmes at the University of Northumbria to complete the ELLI questionnaire online. The idea was to gain an insight into their learning power at the point of entry and relate their scores to academic achievement as they progressed through their course. Final year cohorts were also invited to take part. All cohorts are referred to as Biosciences students throughout this report. Students were briefed and alerted to the ELLI tool during the induction week in September 2011, using the definitions of the seven learning dimensions presented in Table 1. They were consented and offered registration on the first week of teaching. Their scores were discussed shortly afterwards in individual tutorials and related to individual study plans.

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The cohort outcomes were discussed with the programme teaching teams in module and programme evaluation meetings. Table 1. The Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) - brief definitions of the seven key dimensions (Deakin-Crick and Small, 2006; Williamson et al., 2012). Dimension

Definition

Changing and Learning

A sense of yourself as someone who learns and changes

(CL)

over time; the opposite is being ‘stuck and static’;

Critical Curiosity

An orientation to want to ‘get beneath the surface’; the

(CC)

opposite is being ‘passive’;

Meaning Making

Making connections and seeing that learning ‘matters to

(MM)

me’; the opposite is simply ‘accumulating data’;

Creativity

Risk-taking, playfulness, imagination and intuition; the

(CR)

opposite is being ‘rule-bound’;

Resilience

The orientation to persevere in the development of your

(RS)

own learning power and relish challenge; the opposite is being ‘fragile and dependent’;

Strategic Awareness

Being aware of your thoughts, feelings and actions as a

(SA)

learner and able to use that awareness to plan and manage learning processes; the opposite is being ‘robotic’;

Learning Relationships

Learning with and from others and also being able to learn

(LR)

alone; the opposite is either being ‘isolated’ or ‘overdependent’.

2.2 Ethical considerations In compliance with Northumbria University ethical guidelines on working with human subjects, a series of documents were prepared including a participant information sheet, consent form and an invitation letter to participate in the study. Participants were assured anonymity, privacy and confidentiality in handling their data. Written consent was obtained from each participant.

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2.3 Data collection and analysis 23 first year students were consented and 19 of them completed the ELLI questionnaire. 5 final year students completed the questionnaire. Data was summarised in the form of a spider diagram (Microsoft Excel). The individual scores were used in subsequent statistical analysis. Students were assigned to two groups with regards to their achievements at the point of progression to second year. The ‘successful’ performance group achieved first or upper second class, and the ‘satisfactory’ group achieved lower second or third class level averages of marks. All the descriptive and hypothesis testing statistics were carried out using SPSS for Windows V.21 software, at p