Jan H. F. Meyer

The modelling of ‘dissonant’ study orchestration in higher education

Attention is drawn in the present study to atypical patterns of contextualised learning engagement that are often difficult to interpret because, at face value, they exhibit varying degrees of conceptual dissonance. Against a summary of the practical and methodological problems associated with researching the phenomenon of ‘dissonance’, a review is presented of how it may manifest itself in differing contexts, and with what implied or observed associated effects. The empirical question of how ‘dissonance’ may be interpreted and modelled is addressed and it is argued that, in general, the phenomenon can be naturally accommodated within an interference observed model of student learning by virtue of violations of defined ‘conceptual boundaries’ within the model at an individual, or subgroup, response level. An example of an observed interference model of student learning in the form of a common factor model is introduced and is then further used to illustrate how such conceptual violations may occur in practice.RésuméDans la présente étude l’attention est focalisée sur des patterns atypiques d’engagement dans des apprentissages contextualisés qui sont souvent difficiles à interpréter parce que, à première vue, ils présentent des degrés variés de dissonance conceptuelle. Plutôt qu’un résumé des problèmes pratiques et méthodologiques associés avec la recherche du phénomène de ‘dissonance’, on présente une revue de la façon dont il se manifeste dans différents contextes et avec quels effets associés impliqués ou observés. On se pose la question empirique de savoir comment la ‘dissonance’ doit être interprétée et modélisée.Un exemple d’un modèle d’interférence observé d’apprentissage d’élève sous la forme d’un modèle de facteur commun est introduit et il est ensuite utilisé pour illustrer comment de telles violations conceptuelles peuvent apparaître en pratique.

An introduction to the RoLI

The Reflections on Learning Inventory (RoLI) is an instrument designed to capture variation in students’ engagement of learning—typically in a given disciplinary context or topic-specific ‘episode’. Although the RoLI has been employed as a research instrument in a number of published studies on the modelling of student learning in higher education, there has been an important thrust in the development of the RoLI in terms of an instrument that can be used as a basis for developing the critical first stage of metalearning capacity in students; making students aware of their learning via the process of representing responses to the RoLI as a graphic personal learning ‘profile’. To be credible in this role, an instrument should ideally possess the capacity to capture variation in contextualized student learning engagement (or study orchestration ) in a response domain that appeals for its validity in reflecting authenticity in everyday academic learning contexts as derived from students’ experiences . The RoLI draws on such experiences for much of its conceptual basis. And since much of the purposeful endeavour of learning engagement is geared in a very practical sense to the attainment of learning outcomes, it is also helpful to students if the response domain of ‘learning engagement’ is tied in some explanatory sense to the quality of learning outcome(s). Again, a thrust in the development of the RoLI has been to operationalize aspects of learning engagement, specifically in terms of conceptions of learning and learning processes, that conceptually and empirically explain variation in the attainment of learning outcomes. By virtue of this explanatory power there is thus a basis, in a developing metalearning capacity context, for engaging students with the projected likely consequences of a particular study orchestration (always on the assumption that such a projection is valid in terms of the response context, the student identifies with the ‘profile’ as a reasonable stable basis for making such inferences and so on).

Supporting student awareness: understanding student preconceptions of their subject matter within introductory courses

The present study is concerned with how educators might support students in developing a better awareness and understanding of themselves as learners. The context for the paper is widening participation within higher education and the growth of first‐year ‘introductory’ modules, which are taught to large numbers of students, including both specialists and non‐specialists. Such large, heterogeneous student cohorts present particular challenges to educators. The paper describes how the Reflections on Learning Inventory (RoLI) may be used, in conjunction with a subject‐specific inventory, to identify the ways in which variations in student preconceptions about the subject are related to different types of learning processes. The paper then discusses the implications of the findings for pedagogic development. In particular, it proposes that course design should involve the development of student awareness and understanding about motivations and beliefs about the subject.

Dissonant Forms of 'Memorising' and 'Repetition'

The present study examines the phenomenon of dissonant forms of memorising and repetition from both location and structural perspectives. Attention is drawn to clear evidence that supports, in particular, an argument in favour of gender-response differences in both location and structural dissonance. The study also illustrates how the isolation of dissonant response patterns may be approached analytically, especially in terms of using selected stable features of k-means cluster solutions as a basis for the direct categorisation of observed data.

Adaptation and validation of the Course Experience Questionnaire in the context of post‐secondary education in Hong Kong

Purpose – The Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) is a quantitative instrument for collecting student feedback on programme quality that has been tested and practically used in Western university response‐contexts. The purpose of this paper is to adapt and partially validate a Chinese translation of the CEQ, for application in the new context of post‐secondary education in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approach – From a population of about 2,515 students in six institutions, 1,572 responses were obtained, representing a response rate of 62.5 percent. Given that a Chinese CEQ has never been tested in this new context, an exploratory approach was adopted by examining the psychometric properties of the CEQ constituent scales and their underlying factor structure as exhibited via item‐correlation analysis and exploratory factor analysis.Findings – The alpha values of the CEQ scales in the present study are generally lower than those of the other reported studies. The results of exploratory factor analysis in...

Developing metalearning capacity in students: actionable theory and practical lessons learned in first‐year economics

Congruent with the University of South Australia’s mission to widen access, first‐year students of business studies enter the university with a wide range of educational backgrounds and experiences. Previous work (Meyer & Shanahan, 1999) has revealed that such students vary considerably in their views about what learning is, and how they engage in learning. Complementary to these insights, and intimately connected to issues of learning, the same research has revealed the diversity of views held by entering students about economic phenomena (what economics is, what economists do, mechanisms of price determination, and so on). Entering students whose conceptions of learning are at odds with the demands of the institution, or whose conceptions of their academic discipline (in this case economics) are incongruent with fundamental conceptions associated with the discipline (e.g. they hold misconceptions of economics) face difficulties even before they commence their university studies. Within this disciplinary and institutional context, the present study reports on the development and integration of processes to assist students in developing their metalearning capacity. These processes include designing a discipline‐sensitive learning inventory, developing a Web‐based platform for administering the inventory, using resultant data to inform students on an individual basis about themselves as learners in context, and using (variation in) inventory data to inform the course curriculum, the design of course materials and academic staff development.

Identifying threshold concepts: case study of an open catchment hydraulics course

The Threshold Concept Framework is used to initiate a dialogue on an empirically supported pedagogy that focuses on students’ conceptual understanding required for solving application-based problems. The present paper uses a triangulation approach to identify the threshold concept in a third-year undergraduate civil engineering course on open channel hydraulics. Evidence from teachers, students, and assessment data point to ‘critical flow’ as the threshold concept – a concept that is transformative, integrative, and troublesome. Identifying the threshold concept by engaging various course stakeholders in a dialogue about conceptual understanding and capabilities makes learning visible for all participants in the process. Implementing this approach can result in an empirically driven rationale for adjusting pedagogies and assessments to foster enhanced student learning outcomes.

Metalearning Capacity and Threshold Concept Engagement.

This study aims to further our understanding of metalearning activity through the analysis of qualitative data gathered from 370 first‐year microeconomics students in three UK universities. The students were asked to produce undirected reflective essays in response to a personal ‘learning profile’ generated before, and after, the teaching of a threshold concept. The purpose was to compare the capacity and/or inclination of students studying threshold concepts to write about their learning in a manner that conveys an understanding of the self, and sense of control, in the associated process. Findings are first, that as a posited benefit of the metalearning experience a majority of students demonstrate an increased level of control over their learning of threshold concepts, and second that the metalearning activity may provide the basis for study support intervention, tailored to the individual students needs as identified in their self‐reported learning profile and reflective essay.

Threshold Concepts in Practice

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Integrated Threshold Concept Knowledge

After more than a decade of flourishing international research on threshold concepts in the disciplines, we have reached a key point in the maturation of our field – a point where, as a community of scholars, we must ask ourselves questions, such as: How do we translate the rich findings of this research into a theoretically sound and actionable form, so that they are of use to instructors, students, and educational developers? And how may we do this in a way that brings unity to the approach while remaining non-prescriptive and adaptive to the various contexts in which threshold concept research and practice occur?