Some instructional strategies for improved learning from distance teaching materials

In distance teaching we are usually concerned with indirect methods of interacting with learners, using for the most part, the written word. Quality of learning in distance education ought therefore to be closely related to the quality of textual materials provided to students. In this paper we examine some ways of facilitating learning at a distance. We begin by noting the current dearth of models for teaching through text and make a plea for diversity and experimentation in this area. Some traditional instructional strategies (including advance organizers, overviews, pretests, objectives and inserted questions) from the dominant approach to distance teaching are examined along with devices in typoraphy and graphics. Guidelines for their use are developed, based on research, everyday rationality, and from an embryonic conceptualization of distance learning.     

How students use distance teaching materials: an institutional study

Despite the growth of distance education, little systematic knowledge is available concerning the ways in which students use the distance teaching materials provided to them. Using the diary as the data‐gathering instrument and a sample of twenty‐five students, answers were sought to several questions on the ways in which students use the materials, especially in relation to use of time, the range of materials consulted, the self‐assessment activities undertaken, and the sequence in which materials are studied. The results are summarised and discussed. While these have an interest specific to the Institute of Advanced Education at James Cook University, it is felt that they may also be of interest to the wider distance‐teaching community, since this was an A.S.P.ES.A.‐sponsored project.     

Learning from distance‐teaching materials: a study of students’ mediating responses

It has been suggested that improvements in the quality of distance‐teaching materials could be effected if the mental responses that mediate study of and learning from such materials were known. This project aimed at identifying the types and origins of students’ convert mediating responses to distance‐teaching materials during study sessions. Three one‐half hour study sessions were videotaped for each of four student volunteers in a room set up on the campus. Immediately following each study session stimulated‐recall interviews were conducted, the data from these being audiotaped and then transcribed for further analysis. Interview protocols revealed that approaches to study were influenced by a set of interdependent factors, which, when combined with a set of study strategies, resulted in two broad classes of study orientation. Twenty different types of mental processes were identified, seven of which were used more frequently than the others. Furthermore, textual features which activated mental processes were identified using the stimulated‐recall technique, and promising suggestions for textual design were gleaned from the data. Areas for further research were also identified.     

Exploring the dynamics of cultures of learning in internationalised higher education

ABSTRACT

One of the main drivers of internationalisation in higher education (HE) is the intention to facilitate the development of intercultural competence (IC) among students and staff. However, previous research shows that higher levels of IC are not automatically achieved by participating in internationalised educational settings. Drawing on the results from a bi- and trilateral collaborative project, we combine cultures of learning and small culture approaches to analyse how participants’ previous educational experience may have influenced the learning process in internationalised HE classrooms. This article argues the necessity of a non-essentialist view of teaching and learning practices in internationalised classrooms. Our analysis demonstrates how academic practices and classroom norms are (re)negotiated in these new contexts, forming new evolving ‘small’ cultures of learning. The role reciprocity plays in working towards cultural synergy in internationalised HE is also addressed. Striving towards equality in power distribution proves to be significant in achieving cultural synergy.