J.D.H.M. Vermunt

Powerful learning environments? How university students differ in their response to instructional measures

Abstract This study aimed at measuring the effects of a university educational reform project on student learning, and individual differences in students responses to similar instructional measures. The reforms mainly failed to influence reported learning strategies in the direction of more deep and self-regulated learning. One explanation for this could be that the instructional measures were not powerful enough to create more deep-level learning strategies. In a second study, a different explanation was explored. It was found that student groups with different learner characteristics tend to use instructional measures in different ways, such that they suit their own habits, ideas and preferences of learning well. This makes it quite clear that direct influence of instructional measures on learning processes does not take place. We explore suggestions for adapting instructional practice.

Use of portfolios in early undergraduate medical training

The ability to reflect on ones own action is seen as an important skill for a doctor.A thorough introduction of the portfolio planned in the early stages of their studies seems to be the way to train medical students in reflection.This article describes the use of portfolios in early undergraduate medical training.The literature on portfolios suggests three aspects that are crucial for the effectiveness of portfolios: structure, coaching and assessment.The portfolio system was designed by transposing the experience with portfolio systems outside and inside medical training to a situation of firstyear medical students. During the academic year 2001–02 242 first-year medical students compiled a portfolio. Student experience was collected by semi-structured interviews.The majority of students were of the opinion that analysing ones competences in a portfolio was instructive and meaningful.With regard to learning how to reflect and recognize learning needs, however, mentor coaching proved to be necessary.The results thus far show that the portfolio is a worthwhile addition to existing assessment and learning tools.

Individual differences in learning to teach: relating cognition, regulation and affect

The purpose of this study was to describe individual differences in learning to teach. Thirty secondary student teachers were interviewed about several components of their learning: mental models of learning to teach, learning activities, regulation in general, emotion regulation in particular, ideal self as a teacher and concerns. The interviews were qualitatively analysed, resulting in the identification of three to five categories per component. Homogeneity analysis demonstrated that many of these categories are related within individuals. Five orientations to learning to teach were discerned; an open meaning orientation, a closed meaning orientation, an open reproduction orientation, a closed reproduction orientation, and a survival orientation. The five orientations may be indicative of how progress in the quality of individual learning evolves.

Student teachers' beliefs about mentoring and learning to teach during teaching practice

BACKGROUNDnVarious interpretations of mentor roles, by teacher educators and mentors, have been described in the literature on mentoring, while those of student teachers have received less attention. Therefore, this study focuses on student teachers expectations of mentors and their own contributions to their learning process while they are supervised by a mentor.nnnAIMSnThe main aims of this study were: (1) bridging the research on mentoring and the research on higher education students learning conceptions by investigating student teachers beliefs about mentoring and learning to teach, and (2) comparing these beliefs to mentors ones and recent views on mentoring and learning in order to make suggestions for improving learning to teach.nnnSAMPLEnThirty student teachers, graduates in various academic disciplines, participated. They were attending a one-year teacher education programme at Leiden University in the Netherlands.nnnMETHODSnStructured interviews with the student teachers were audio-taped. Firstly, categories of mentor roles and learning activities were derived from the data. These were linked, secondly, by their focus of attention and, thirdly, empirically by a homogeneity analysis (HOMALS).nnnRESULTSnSix mentor roles, ten learning activities, and one regulation activity were combined in six foci: (1) affective aspects of learning to teach, (2) mentors teaching styles, (3) assessment of student teachers performance, (4) reflecting on students lessons, (5) school context, and (6) self-regulation of learning. The HOMALS analysis yielded a process-product dimension.nnnCONCLUSIONnIn this study, the student teachers beliefs about mentoring were similar to those of mentors. Furthermore, a third of the student teachers expected themselves as thinking critically about their lessons, but nobody expected their mentors to explicate their practical knowledge underlying their teaching. Therefore, the articulation of this knowledge is indicated as an additional mentor role and will be elaborated.

The impact of the university context on European students' learning approaches and learning environment preferences

This article describesexperiences of 610 Dutch students and 241students from other European countries whostudied at least three months abroad within theframework of an international exchange program.The Dutch students went to a university inanother European country and the foreignstudents went to a Dutch university. By meansof a questionnaire students perceptions ofthree main characteristics of the universitylearning environment were measured concerningthe home university, the host university andthe ideal learning environment. The studentswere also asked about their way of learning atthe home university and at the host university,in particular about the extent of constructivelearning and reproductive learning. Evidencewas found for the influence of aspects of thelearning environment on the two learningapproaches; e.g., a learning environmentcharacterized as student-oriented discouragesreproductive learning and promotes constructivelearning, especially when conceptual andepistemological relations within the learningdomain are stressed. The learning environmentpreferences of the students were partly relatedto their learning orientations at the homeuniversity, but they were strikingly similarfor students from different countries. Therewas a strong preference for those learningenvironment aspects that promote constructivelearning.

Student teachers eliciting mentors’ practical knowledge and comparing it to their own beliefs

Abstract Student teachers have at their disposal various information sources concerning teaching: their own beliefs, their mentors’ practical knowledge, and ‘theory’. Because practical knowledge often remains implicit, the aim of the present study was to explore the appropriateness of two techniques for its articulation: concept mapping and completing sentences. The criterion used was that these should not only elicit descriptions of how to teach, but also the cognitions underlying teaching, i.e., practical knowledge. Thirty-five student teachers and their mentors at a postgraduate teacher-training institute in the Netherlands used both techniques, concerning the subject of ‘order’. Subsequently, the students summarized their own beliefs, their mentors’ practical knowledge, and theory and compared these to each other. The student teachers’ reports showed that they, in general, had been able to elicit partially their mentors’ practical knowledge. It was concluded that the use of the techniques involved seemed valuable for student teachers’ learning processes.

Process-oriented teaching

In contemporary conceptions of teaching, a central place is given to the quality of student learning. Whereas, in the past, theories of teaching and theories of instructional design were mostly based on the knowledge-transmission model, today many such theories find their inspiration in the knowledge-construction model (Lowyck & Elen, 1993). One reason for this change is epistemological in nature: research results have made it clear that the quality of knowledge gained by active knowledge construction is better (i.e., more accessible, coherent, usable...) than knowledge acquired by the passive intake of knowledge. A second reason is societal in nature: fast changes in work, technology, and society make it more necessary than before for people to keep acquiring new knowledge after their school career. It is obvious that they should learn at school the knowledge and skills needed for this lifelong process of learning. From an epistemological perspective, it is important that teaching is aimed at fostering learning processes characterized by active knowledge construction. From a societal point of view, it is important that education takes care that students learn to self-initiate such types of learning. In this way, students acquire a disposition to keep acquiring new knowledge actively and self-directedly after their formal education has come to an end. Learning to learn has increasingly become a major educational goal. This calls for teaching theories and instructional design models that are specifically aimed at promoting learning-to-leam processes in students. In this chapter, we will discuss a teaching model that is well suited to meeting this objective: process-oriented teaching. It is based on research and theories on student learning processes and the interplay between self-regulation and external regulation of learning. Process-oriented teaching is aimed at the integrated teaching of learning and thinking strategies, on the one hand, and domain-specific knowledge, on the other. It is an instructional model in which learners are taught to employ suitable learning and thinking activities to construct, change and utilize their knowledge of a particular subject domain. This type of teaching is called process-oriented teaching because it focuses on learners processes of knowledge construction and utilization. The emphasis is on a gradual transfer of control over thinking and learning processes from the teacher and/or other instructional agents to students. The underlying regulation conception assumes that it is impossible, but also undesirable, to carry out the learning processes for students and to exert maximum control over them. The main teacher tasks in this conception are

Using interviews and concept maps to access mentor teachers' practical knowledge

Mentor teachers practical knowledgeoften remains implicit for the student teachersthey supervise. Practical knowledge consists ofvarious cognitions that clarify mentors ownlessons and the feedback given to studentteachers. The aim of the present study was toevaluate two instruments, the interview andconcept map, for accessing practical knowledgein the context of teacher education. Seventystudent teachers participating in apostgraduate teacher education programme in theNetherlands interviewed their mentors anddiscussed a concept map made by these mentors.They summarised their mentors explicatedpractical knowledge about teaching andorder, wrote down their learning experiences,and evaluated both instruments. Severalcategories of learning experiences andevaluations were derived from the reports thatwere analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. The summaries of practicalknowledge were analysed using two distinctions:(1) absolute versus situational and (2)descriptive versus analytical statements.At least half of the student teachers evaluatedinterviewing and concept mapping positively foraccessing practical knowledge. The analysisshowed that concept mapping had elicited morereasons underlying teaching than interviewing.It was concluded that both instrumentscan help student teachers to access practicalknowledge, each revealing qualitativelydifferent information: interviewing yieldedmore concrete, practical information while thatproduced by concept mapping was moreabstract.

Dissonance in students' regulation of learning processes

In this article, dissonance in students’ way of learning is explored from a regulation of learning perspective. First, consonant patterns of interrelations among learning elements are sketched. These patterns were identified in studies with university students by means of a diagnostic instrument, the Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS), that assesses four learning components: cognitive processing strategies, metacognitive regulation strategies, mental models of learning, and learning orientations. Consonant patterns of linkages among these components result in four qualitatively different ways of learning or learning styles: undirected, reproduction-directed, meaning-directed and application-directed learning. Next, several studies that used the ILS as a research instrument were examined for indications of dissonant patterns of interrelations among these learning components. The students in these studies ranged from early secondary school to adult university students. Five phenomena of dissonance could be identified: lack of differentiation within learning components, lack of integration between learning components, incompatibility of learning strategies, models and orientations, missing learning style elements, and a lack of distinct application-directed learning. These phenomena are described and documented. Finally, the results are discussed in relation to other recent studies on dissonant study orchestrations and in terms of their practical meaning. A developmental explanation for the occurrence of some manifestations of dissonance is offered.RésuméDans cet article, la dissonance dans la façon d’apprendre chez des étudiants est abordée dans une perspective de régulation de l’apprentissage. Dans un premier temps des patterns concordants de relations entre différents aspects de l’apprentissage furent repérés. Ces patterns ont été identifiés auprès d’étudiants à l’aide de l’Inventory of learning styles (ILS), un instrument qui évalue 4 composantes de l’apprentissage: stratégies de traitement cognitif, stratégies de régulation métacognitive, modèles mentaux de l’apprentissage, et orientations de l’apprentissage. Les patterns d’association entre ces composantes permettent de distinguer quatre types de stratégies d’apprentissage qualitativement différents: Apprentissage sans orientation, orientá vers la reproduction, orienté vers la compréhension et orienté vers l’application. Après quoi, plusieurs études utilisant le ILS comme instrument d’investigation sont passées en revue, à la recherche de patterns dissonant de relations entre ces quatre composantes. Les étudiants ayant servi de sujets dans ces recherches vont du début de l’enseignement secondaire jusqu’à l’enseignement supérieur. Cinq phénomènes de discordance ont pu être identifiés: manque de différenciation entre composantes, manque d’intégration entre composantes, incompatibilité entre stratégies d’apprentissage, modèles et orientations, style d’apprentissage lacunaire, absence d’une composante apprentissage dirigé vers l’application. Ces phénomènes sont décrits et illustrés. Enfin, les résultats sont discutés en relation avec d’autres études récentes sur l’orchestration des dissonances d’étude et du point de vue de leur signification pratique. Les auteurs proposent une explication développementale à certaines manifestations de la dissonance.

Assessing orientations to learning to teach

BACKGROUNDnAn important purpose of teacher education is that student teachers develop and change their existing knowledge on learning and teaching. Research on how student teachers variously engage in this process is scarce. In a previous study of 30 student teachers, we identified five different orientations to learning to teach.nnnAIMSnOur aim was to extend the results of the previous study by developing an instrument to assess orientations to learning to teach at a larger scale. The development and psychometric properties of the instrument are discussed. The results with respect to how student teachers learn are compared to the results of the qualitative study.nnnSAMPLEnParticipants in this study were 169 secondary student teachers from three institutes which had all adopted an initial in-service model of learning to teach.nnnMETHODSnOn the basis of extensive qualitative study, a questionnaire was developed to assess individual differences in learning to teach. Factor-, reliability-, and nonparametric scalability analyses were performed to identify reliable scales. Cluster analysis was used to identify groups of students with similar orientations to learning to teach.nnnRESULTSnEight scales covering cognitive, regulative and affective aspects of student teachers learning were identified. Cluster analysis indicates that the instrument discriminates well between student teachers. Four of the five previously found patterns were found again.nnnCONCLUSIONSnThe four orientations found in relatively uniform learning environments indicate that student teachers need differential support in their learning. Although the instrument measures individual differences in a reliable way, it is somewhat one-sided in the sense that items representing constructive ways of learning dominate. New items forming a broader range of scales should be created.