Christopher Knapper

Development of a Scale to Measure Lifelong Learning.

Primary objective: to develop a scale to measure students’ disposition to engage in lifelong learning. Research design, methods and procedures: using items that reflected the components of lifelong learning, we constructed a 14‐item scale that was completed by 309 university and vocational college students, who also completed a measure of deep and surface learning. Main outcomes and results: the lifelong learning scale had reasonable reliability, and showed some differences between students in different discipline and institutions. As hypothesized, lifelong learning was positively related to the deep approach to learning and negatively to the surface approach. Conclusions: although the factors that contribute to the lifelong‐learning attributes measured here have yet to be investigated, this questionnaire can provide an overall picture of a group’s inclinations towards lifelong learning. It can help evaluate the effectiveness of educational interventions, or allow individual students to understand their learning strengths and weaknesses.

Development Of The Approaches To Work And Workplace Climate Questionnaires For Physicians

Two questionnaires were developed to investigate the workplace learning of physicians. The Approaches to Work Questionnaire for Physicians and the Workplace Climate Questionnaire for Physicians were adapted from general measures developed by Kirby, Knapper, Evans, Carty, and Gadula. These questionnaires were administered to a random sample of Ontario physicians. Consistent with the results of Kirby et al., three dimensions of approaches to work were observed: Deep, Surface-Rational, and Surface-Disorganized. Three dimensions of workplace climate were also found, Supportive-Receptive, Choice-Independence, and Workload. Results indicate that physicians adopt primarily a Deep approach to work, but that there is a smaller tendency toward Surface-Disorganized learning, one that is strongly correlated with perceptions of heavy workload. The Deep approach was associated with work environments perceived to be Supportive-Receptive and offer Choice-Independence. The use of these questionnaires in research and practice is discussed.

Does educational development matter

Abstract This essay provides reflections on the growth and influence of educational development, and the changes in approaches to teaching in universities. It also identifies some areas in which educational development and developers face challenges for the future, including educational technology, leadership and resistance to change.

Medical Students’ Learning Strategies in Problem-Based Learning and Traditional Courses

Purpose: To investigate the learning strategies used by undergraduate medical students in a hybrid curriculum including lecture-based teaching methods and problem-based learning (PEL).

From Driver Safety to Lifelong Learning: Some Early Research Contributions

Although Arthur Cropley is best known today for his work on creativity and education, in the early part of his career he made substantial contributions to the understanding of driving behavior and traffic safety that had important implications for public policy and legislation. He also helped develop an approach to attitude measurement, combining both quantitative and qualitative methods, which has been used successfully in a number of applied settings. His extensive writings on lifelong learning culminated in a well-received monograph that was one of the first attempts to advocate a greater role for higher education in promoting lifelong and life-wide learning skills.