Having read Richardson (2005) I found I could relate to a lot of what he has to say but I am pleased his research is not solely based on questionnaires, he actually took the time to interview a large number of students as well.
My experience of some of these questionnaires presented to students is not good and I would not like to think that course content and indeed teacher performance is measured or based on comments and scores from questionnaires. Having watched a number of students race through the online forms paying very little attention to the questions, I am sorry but unless the students take care and time to complete properly they are not worth doing.
Back to the findings and a couple of questions to ponder over this week.
Do the concepts, theories and evidence described in my paper fit your own experience as a learner?
They most certainly do I can particularly identify and relate to the ‘Deep approach’ v ‘Surface approach’ both in my learning style and that of my students. I find myself switching between the two methods depending on time in fact I think it is fair to say that many students fluctuate between the styles depending on the teaching methods. Does learning just happen though? Yes it is possible if many exercises or group work activities are interesting enough to absorb the student, I have sat back and watched the activity unfold and I am confident that in some instances the students don’t actually realise what they are learning but they are engrossed and come out of the activity with the key learning points. It’s great to see and satisfying when I occasionally get this right.
Which of Säljö’s five conceptions of learning best fits your own definition?
An interesting question and I am torn between 1 and 3, ‘Learning as the increase of knowledge’ and learning as the ‘acquisition of facts or procedures’. If I had to pick one it would be the first. However I am a strong believer in the application of real learning and when you truly understand something I believe you are able to take its meaning to a new level. Therefore ‘Learning is the abstraction of meaning’, and certainly in HE this is more likely to be possible whereas the less seasoned student may well see learning as a case of memorising something. If you think I am sitting on the fence here a bit I am, it’s not an easy question to answer.
Well I am off to see what my fellow students thought about this.
2 comments:
'I find myself switching between the two methods' what an insight it makes much more sense now. Was having difficultly deciding though it is true i don't have to decide which approach works for me, I switch depending on what needs to be learnt.
As soon as pedagogy is mentioned I assume surface mode then when we came to Web 2.0 technology & Engestrom it was the deep approach (book an all). KR Joanne
Hi Joanne
I agree we look to deep sometimes and try to put everything in a particular box education is not straight forward. The more I read this year the more complex it becomes.
Post a Comment