Robert A. Ellis

E-Learning in Higher Education: Some Key Aspects and Their Relationship to Approaches to Study

While there has been systematic and on‐going research into e‐learning in universities for over two decades, there has been comparatively less evidence‐based research into how key aspects of e‐learning are internally constituted from a student perspective and how these aspects might be related to university students’ learning experiences. The purpose of this paper is to explore key aspects of e‐learning that might be related to university student approaches to study, so that a better understanding of the internal structure of these aspects is achieved. Student responses to surveys are analysed at the level of each item to identify which items made the most sense to over 200 third‐year economics students. Data was also analysed both at the variable level, to identify which items coalesce to determine the structure of e‐learning variables, and at the student level, to see if there were groups of students in the sample that shared similar experiences of e‐learning when it was used to support a predominately campus‐based learning experience. The results suggest several implications for improving particular aspects of the student experience of e‐learning when it is used to support a campus‐based experience.

Relations between students' approaches to learning, experienced emotions and outcomes of learning

Quantitative analyses conducted on the self-reports of first year university students suggest that there is a relationship between the ways they emotionally experience their course and the approach they take to the learning of that course. Students who more strongly experience positive emotions, such as hope and pride, and more weakly experience negative emotions (such as anger, boredom, anxiety and shame), are likely to be adopting more of a deep approach to learning. In comparison, students who describe more of a surface approach to learning are more likely to report an experience of lower positive emotions and higher negative emotions. Both the experience of more positive emotions and the adoption of a deeper approach are associated with higher achievement scores. Lower achievement is associated with surface approaches to learning and negative emotional experiences. The value of these results lies in enhancing awareness of the elements that make up the learning experience for students, and of the need for consideration of the full range of emotional and approach to learning elements in designing new learning environments.

Inquiry-based learning in higher education: principal forms, educational objectives, and disciplinary variations

Learning through inquiry is a widely advocated pedagogical approach. However, there is currently little systematic knowledge about the practice of inquiry-based learning (IBL) in higher education. This study examined descriptions of learning tasks that were put forward as examples of IBL by 224 university teachers from various disciplines in three Australian universities. Data analysis uncovered the principal forms of IBL, the features of each form, their characteristic educational objectives, and possible disciplinary variations. The findings show that underlying the diversity of language and tasks regarded as IBL there is a limited number of distinct task forms and a broad conception of inquiry that is shared by university teachers. The findings also indicate that IBL is practiced in a wide range of disciplines, in both undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs, in smaller and larger classes, and in universities which are more and less research intensive.

Learning Through Discussions in Blended Environments

This paper reports research into the student experience of learning through discussions in a blended environment. Third year engineering students studying e‐commerce engaged in both face‐to‐face discussions and online asynchronous discussions as key aspects of their learning experience. Adopting a quantitative methodology, questionnaires were completed by students at the end of their learning experience. The results suggest qualitatively different experiences of learning through discussions. The results show that students who have a deep understanding of how the discussions are related to their learning outcomes tend to approach the discussions in more meaningful ways. In the face‐to‐face context, their approach emphasizes learning through the experience of others and, in the online environment, their approach emphasizes reflecting on the problems discussed from a variety of perspectives. Formation par discussions dans des environnements intégrés. Une étude a été menée sur les expériences d’étudiants avec la formation par discussions dans un environnement intégré. Des étudiants d’ingénierie de troisième année ont engagé des discussions personnelles et des discussions en ligne différés lors de leurs études de commerce en ligne représentant les aspects clés pour leur expérience de formation. En adoptant une méthode quantitative, des questionnaires ont été remplis par des étudiants à la fin de leur expérience de formation. Les résultats suggèrent des expériences de formation qualitativement différentes par discussions. Les résultats montrent que les étudiants qui ont une grande connaissance sur le fait que les discussions influent sur leur issue de formation, tendent à aborder les discussions de manière plus significative. Dans un contexte personnel, cette évaluation met l’accent sur la formation par l’expérience d’autres, et dans l’environnement en ligne, elle met l’accent sur la réflexion des problèmes discutés avec une variété de perspectives. Lernen durch Diskussionen in integrierten Lernumfeldern. Diese Studie berichtet über die Erfahrungen von Studenten beim Lernen durch Diskussionen innerhalb eines integrierten Lernumfelds. Studenten des Ingenieurwesens im dritten Studienjahr befassten sich während ihres e‐Commerce Studiums sowohl mit persönlichen Diskussionen als auch mit zeitlich versetzt geführten Online‐Diskussionen, die Schlüsselaspekte für ihre Lernerfahrungen darstellten. Mit einer quantitativen Methode wurden am Ende der Lernerfahrung durch die Studenten Fragebögen ausgefüllt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen qualitativ unterschiedliche Lernerfahrungen durch Diskussionen auf. Sie belegen, dass Studenten, die gute Kenntnisse darüber haben, wie Diskussionen ihren Lernerfolg beeinflussen, bedeutend mehr dazu tendieren, an Diskussionen teilzunehmen. Dieser Ansatz beweist, dass in persönlichen Diskussionen der Lernerfolg durch die Erfahrung anderer erreicht wird, wohingegen bei einer Problemdiskussion innerhalb eines Online‐Umfelds der Schwerpunkt auf die Vielfältigkeit der Betrachtungsweisen aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln gelegt wird. Dieser Ansatz hebt im persönlichen Kontext das Lernen durch die Erfahrung anderer und in der Online‐Umgebung die Betrachtung über die aus vielen Blickwinkeln diskutierten Probleme hervor.

University students’ approaches to learning: rethinking the place of technology

In this article, we argue that educational technology research has spent too long trapped in a paradigm of simplistic comparisons, wherein normal science consists of evaluating a technology‐based intervention by contrasting it with some established set of educational practices. Our argument is different in significant ways from the claim that media will never influence learning. Rather, it focuses on two sets of issues. The first is concerned with the nature of comparison, and especially with the hidden work of simplification that is usually entailed in comparative research. The second is also concerned with a shift in perspective – from that of the educational innovator to that of the student. The article has implications for thinking about the design and management of learning environments in more holistic or ecological ways.

Discontinuities in university student experiences of learning through discussions

This article reports on research into the student experience of learning through discussions in a third-year undergraduate engineering subject. Information engineering students studying e-commerce were required to engage in face-to-face and online discussions as a key aspect of their learning experience. This study investigates the quality of the experience of learning through those discussions using quantitative methodologies from Student Learning Research. Analyses of student ratings on the closed-ended questionnaires identify qualitatively different approaches to learning through discussions, both in face-to-face contexts and online. Relationships are found among the variation in the quality of these approaches and how students perceive issues such as workload, what they thought they were learning through discussions and performance. Implications arising from these results identify different suggestions for teaching students to discuss successfully in different contexts.

Learning through inquiry: student difficulties with online course‐based Material

This study investigates the case-based learning experience of 133 undergraduate veterinarian science students. Using qualitative methodologies from relational Student Learning Research, variation in the quality of the learning experience was identified, ranging from coherent, deep, quality experiences of the cases, to experiences that separated significant aspects, such as the online case histories, laboratory test results, and annotated images emphasizing symptoms, from the meaning of the experience. A key outcome of this study was that a significant percentage of the students surveyed adopted a poor approach to learning with online resources in a blended experience even when their overall learning experience was related to cohesive conceptions of veterinary science, and that the difference was even more marked for less successful students. The outcomes from the study suggest that many students are unsure of how to approach the use of online resources in ways that are likely to maximise benefits for learning in blended experiences, and that the benefits from case-based learning such as authenticity and active learning can be threatened if issues closely associated with qualitative variation arising from incoherence in the experience are not addressed.

Managing quality improvement of eLearning in a large, campus‐based university

Purpose – This paper seeks to discuss the characteristics that shape a model to manage eLearning in a large, predominantly campus‐based university. It focuses on how such a model can provide a sustainable approach to supporting eLearning for more than 40,000 students while still managing basic quality assurance for the University executive and the individual disciplinary needs of faculties.Design/methodology/approach – Prior research and theoretical issues related to a generalised course development and teaching process are discussed followed by an analysis of a case‐study from a large metropolitan Australian university. The case‐study illustrates key aspects of the management model providing insights into how staff are empowered and supported to develop meaningful eLearning resources for students, how quality improvement is managed, and how organizational learning takes place.Findings – Following the analysis of how key aspects of the model relate to the university discussed in the case study, several ch...

University Student Approaches to Learning Science through Writing.

This study investigates the approaches adopted by students to a university writing programme designed to help them learn first‐year undergraduate science. The research design includes phenomenographic analyses of 19 interviews and 50 open‐ended questionnaires, as well as quantitative analyses of the qualitative data. The main results of the study are the close association between the quality of the students’ approaches to writing, including when they use technology, to the way they think about writing as a way of learning, and to the level of achievement they reach. The results suggest that writing programmes designed to help students learn science would be improved if their tasks embed issues such as what learning is possible through writing, how new technologies can be used to support meaningful writing and who should be offering models of how to approach university writing most meaningfully.

The role of social identification as university student in learning: relationships between students’ social identity, approaches to learning, and academic achievement

This article describes research exploring the relationship between students’ self-perceptions in the context of university learning (i.e. student social identity), their approaches to learning, and academic achievement. The exploration of these inter-related aspects requires a mix of theoretical approaches, that is, in this research both social identity perspective from social psychology and the student learning research framework are used to explore student identity and learning in the context of higher education. Two structural equation models drawing on both these theoretical frameworks were tested. In the first of these models, deep approaches to learning are positively associated with students’ social identification as university student and positively predict academic achievement. In the second model, surface approaches to learning are negatively associated with students’ social identification and negatively predict academic achievement. The mediational roles of deep and surface approaches to learning in the relationship between student social identity and academic achievement are also explored.