Delia Marshall

Between deep and surface: procedural approaches to learning in engineering education contexts

This article describes two approaches to learning (in addition to the classic deep and surface approaches) identified in studies of student learning in engineering contexts. The first study identified the ‘procedural deep’ approach in a group of engineering foundation programme students in the UK, while the second study identified the ‘procedural surface’ (originally termed algorithmic) approach amongst second‐year South African chemical engineering students. Both these approaches involve a strategy of focusing on problem solving, but they have respectively deep and surface intentions (the former involving the intention to understand and the latter not). From both studies it was clear that the approaches students use are adaptations to particular course contexts, and it is suggested that a course focus towards a procedural deep objective might preclude the adoption of a deep approach.

Learning as acquiring a discursive identity through participation in a community: improving student learning in engineering education

In this paper, we propose that learning in engineering involves taking on the discourse of an engineering community, which is intimately bound up with the identity of being a member of that community. This leads to the notion of discursive identity, which emphasises that students’ identities are constituted through engaging in discourse. This view of learning implies that success in engineering studies needs to be defined with particular reference to the sorts of identities that students develop and how these relate to identities in the world of work. In order to achieve successful learning in engineering, we need to recognise the multiple identities held by our students, provide an authentic range of engineering-related activities through which students can develop engineering identities and make more explicit key aspects of the discourse of engineering of which lecturers are tacitly aware. We include three vignettes to illustrate how some of the authors of this paper (from across three different institutions) have applied this perspective of learning in their teaching practice.

Rethinking ‘disadvantage’ in higher education: a paradigmatic case study using narrative analysis

This article explores the use of narrative analysis to provide a methodology for student learning research with a sociocultural orientation. The narrative which is the primary focus of this article is drawn from a study in which a series of individual interviews was conducted with a class of senior engineering students. The interview with a particular student emerged as a ‘paradigmatic’ case, in that it represented a rich example of student success against a background of disadvantage. The analysis presented in the article leads to a questioning of some of the commonly held views on disadvantage in higher education. It is argued that the coping strategies developed in a ‘disadvantaged’ social background could form useful resources for succeeding in higher education, and that the construction of identity could be crucial for mobilising these resources. Questions are consequently raised about the extent to which these aspects of personal growth are supported by the formal curriculum and the professional workplace.

‘Approaches to learning’ research in higher education: a response to Haggis

This article responds to the concerns raised by Haggis in 2003 regarding the use of approaches to learning theory in higher education. It is argued that the misrepresentations of the theory observed in the literature are not a reason for discarding the theory entirely. This article reasserts key features of the theory, argues for its relevance to mass higher education, and suggests that the incorporation of other theoretical perspectives would be appropriate.

Students’ Expectations of Teaching in Undergraduate Physics

This article reports on a phenomenographic‐based study of the expectations of teaching among undergraduate physics students. Data are drawn from a range of course‐contexts at each of two quite different universities — one South African and one Swedish — and five qualitatively different expectations of physics teaching are identified and exemplified. These range from presenting knowledge to facilitating personal development and agency. Implications of possible mismatches between students’ and lecturers’ expectations of physics teaching are discussed in relation to students’ learning experiences.

What do student learning inventories really measure? A critical analysis of students' responses to the Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory

Student learning inventories are used by both researchers and educators as tools to identify ‘at risk’ students. This article critically interrogates the results of one of these inventories, the 18-item Approaches to Learning and Studying Inventory. In-depth interviews were held with a purposive sample of 10 first-year engineering students who had completed the inventory. During interviews, students were asked to elaborate on their responses for those items where they gave inconsistent or contradictory responses. The analysis of these data pointed to a range of underlying reasons for apparently contradictory responses to the inventory items. In some instances students were confused by the statement, in some they picked on a particular word instead of the meaning of the statements, and sometimes they gave responses which referred to a particular context. These findings highlight the difficulties in interpreting inventory responses, particularly when used in a culturally diverse classroom.

Being a student again: a narrative study of a teacher's experience

For some time there has been a focus in higher education research towards understanding the student experience of learning. This article presents a narrative analysis of the experience of a teacher who re-entered the learning world of undergraduate students by enrolling in a challenging chemical engineering course. The analysis identifies multiple lenses in the narrative: of student, of researcher, of teacher and of mature student. A personal reflective genre was noted which displayed an overriding emotional tenor, linked both to the emotions associated with the individual experience of struggling with difficult tasks and those arising from negotiating the social interactions of the learning environment. This hermeneutic engagement points to the value in teachers exploring their own learning, as well as new possibilities for critically examining the implications of apparently progressive teaching methodologies.

Physics tutors' metalearning development through an extension of Schön's reflective practice

Abstract A reflective practicum was developed for a group of university physics tutors using Schonian framed coaching experiences. A central theme of the practicum was getting the tutors, as a function of their tutoring practice and its consequences, to reflect on the dynamics of their experiences of academic learning in order to evoke personal metalearning development. Qualitative data collected from this reflection‐on‐learning were use to generate characterizations of the tutors’ metalearning development using a phenomenographic analytic approach. The characterizations, together with illustrative descriptions, reflect the nature of the metalearning development experienced by the tutors. The results suggest that Schons notion of the role of reflection in teaching and supervision contexts can be meaningfully extended to the context of student learning.

Analysing the professional development of teaching and learning from a political ethics of care perspective

This paper uses Trontos political ethics of care as a normative framework to evaluate a model of teaching and learning professional development. This framework identifies five integrated moral elements of care – attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness and trust. This paper explicates on each of these elements to evaluate the piloting and implementation of a teaching and learning professional development model at a South African higher education institution. The political ethics of care was found to be a useful normative framework for a group of higher educators to reflect on the process of engaging in teaching and learning professional development in that it revealed the importance of differential power relations, the importance of working collaboratively and being attentive to the needs of both caregivers and care receivers.

d/Discourse in the Learning of Physics: The Design of an Introductory Physics Curriculum.

Abstract Research on student learning in physics has tended to focus largely on an individual perspective on learning. This can be contrasted with a sociocultural perspective which focuses on the social and linguistic dimensions of learning. As an exemplar of this perspective, this paper uses Gees notions of ‘little d’ discourse and ‘big D’ Discourse as a framework for the design of an introductory physics course. Firstly, this involves a focus on helping students acquire the discourse of physics, which is the way the discipline represents itself in text. Secondly there is a focus on making the Discourse of the discipline explicit, through emphasising the values and ways of thinking that characterise physics, incorporating more authentic practical activities and engaging with scientists in the field. Basing curriculum design on a sociocultural perspective on learning, the paper argues, is a potentially productive way of addressing many of the traditional shortcomings of physics curricula.