Learning in formal and informal contexts: conceptions and strategies of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university students

Research suggests that students' approaches to learning and hence learning outcomes are closely related to their conceptions of learning. This paper describes an investigation into conceptions of formal learning held by 22 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from three Australian universities in Queensland; categories of informal learning, reasons for studying and strategies used to learn were also investigated. The attrition rate for these students in tertiary education is higher than that of any other group of students. The main aim of this study was to determine their conceptions of learning in order to provide information that might facilitate instruction more suited to their needs in order to address the high attrition rate. Results showed that these students view and approach university learning in much the same way as other university students. It was also apparent that, for the most part, the strategies these students used did not match the conceptions of learning they held. An interesting result was the difference between the conceptions of formal learning and perceptions of informal learning.     

Listening to our Students: Understanding the factors that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students' academic success

While the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in higher education in Australia has doubled in recent years, the gap between their attainment and the attainment of other Australians has remained consistent. It is essential to elucidate the factors that promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students' academic success, not in order to justify the exclusion of these students from tertiary education, but to refine and develop curriculum and management strategies which promote their academic success. This study focuses on Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander students' experiences in a diploma program offered in block mode, in order to better understand the ‘on-’ and ‘off-’ campus experiences which are related to academic success and the factors which challenge or enhance students' study. The research yields important findings related to students' motivations to enrol and their definitions of academic success; the challenges they experience in making the transition to tertiary study; the vulnerability of our students' determination to succeed; the effects of being in a program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students; and the ways in which minor challenges, if unresolved, can accumulate to interfere with students' study.     

Improving the participation and engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in business education

Most Australian universities have among their goals to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at their institutions. In the Australian higher education context, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are seriously under-represented, particularly in business education compared to other disciplines. An understanding of why a larger proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students do not choose to study a discipline that provides promising employment opportunities, is fundamental to improving the status quo. This paper reviews the literature to identify key barriers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ participation and engagement in business education. Apart from multiple general barriers to participation in higher education, factors specific to business as a profession and as an academic discipline are also considered. The paper then discusses a number of strategies Australian educational institutions could pursue when seeking to increase participation and engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in business. Drawing on the review, the paper concludes with recommendations for higher education institutional policy to further improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student participation and engagement in business studies.     

Decolonising the reading of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writing: reflection as transformative practice

ABSTRACT

First Nations writing within English literary studies risks contemporary colonisation if encountered as a literary object for close reading without context or reflection on the role of the reader. This article will explore the processes involved in constructing an innovative reading practice amongst tertiary students to counter the potential for intentional or unintentional colonial readings. Dr Sandra Phillips, First Nations academic and researcher, initiated and applied the reading practice (which overtly incorporates student/reader standpoint and then reflection on the impact of that standpoint among other considerations) from her PhD scholarship then applied it to her curriculum design of ‘Reading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Writing’, which forms the basis of this research. Dr Clare Archer-Lean continued the coordination and teaching of the curriculum at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland after Sandra moved tertiary institutions. The two academics continue to collaborate on the curriculum review and reflect on the processes of teaching and crafting this form of reading practice and assessment. Their aim has been to create a reading practice that accounts for the position and influence of the reader in the cross-cultural, or co-cultural, reading process. This is primarily achieved by acknowledging the role and influence of standpoint in the reading process as well as deepening reading through an understanding of the cultural, social and political discourses affecting the production, distribution and reception of First Nations writing in the Australian context.     

Learning from mistakes and moving forward in intercultural research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

The ongoing challenges in equitable research involving Indigenous peoples and their communities and ways to overcome these are discussed in this article. Central to this article is the narrative reflection of a non-Indigenous researcher following research on Indigenous spirituality, well-being and resilience in the Yaegl community of northern New South Wales, Australia, conducted between 2003 and 2010. Upon reflection several years after the studies, the researcher has identified several inadequacies in the ways in which the research was conceptualised, designed, conducted and supervised. In seeking to critically reflect on and learn from this experience, with the hope of contributing to better understanding and protocols in research with Indigenous peoples, as well as improved models of higher degree research (HDR) supervision in this space, the researcher has collaborated with an Indigenous academic to incorporate theory and Indigenous knowledge in highlighting considerations for better research training and practice.     

Supporting Australian Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal nursing students using mentoring circles: an action research study

Attempts to recruit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students into nursing degrees have made minimal impact on the number of registered nurses working in Australia's healthcare sector. Yet increasing the number of Indigenous nurses remains one of the most important objectives in strategies to close the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Poor retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree offered in far north Queensland, Australia, indicates the need for a different approach to support and retain Indigenous students. This action research study used a decolonizing methodology and was conducted at a satellite university campus in a remote Torres Strait Island community. Researchers trialled the use of a mentoring circle to support and retain nursing students and interviewed mentors and mentees about their experiences. Grounded theory methods were used to analyse the data. Findings indicated a growth in participant students’ emotional intelligence as a result of participating in a mentoring circle. Students developed confidence, formed a group identity, better-negotiated the university environment, became more effective communicators and supported one another through difficulties. The mentoring circle model improved students' university experience and its use should be considered by tertiary educators working with Indigenous students.     

Black girls speak STEM: Counterstories of informal and formal learning experiences

This study presents the interpretations and perceptions of Black girls who participated in I AM STEM—a community-based informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program. Using narrative inquiry, participants generated detailed accounts of their informal and formal STEM learning experiences. Critical race methodology informed this research to portray the dynamic and complex experiences of girls of color, whose stories have historically been silenced and misrepresented. The data sources for this qualitative study included individual interviews, student reflection journals, samples of student work, and researcher memos, which were triangulated to produce six robust counterstories. Excerpts of the counterstories are presented in this article. The major findings of this research revealed that I AM STEM ignited an interest in STEM learning through field trips and direct engagement in scientific phenomena that allowed the girls to become agentic in continuing their engagement in STEM activities throughout the year. This call to awaken the voices of Black girls to speak casts light on their experiences and challenges as STEM learners—from their perspectives. The findings confirm that when credence and counterspaces are given to Black girls, they are poised to reveal their luster toward STEM learning. This study provided a space for Black girls to reflect on their STEM learning experiences, formulate new understandings, and make connections between the informal and formal learning environments within the context of their everyday lives, thus offering a more holistic approach to STEM learning that occurs across settings and over a lifetime.     

Persevering,educating and influencing a change: a case study of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander narratives of academic success

ABSTRACT

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ experiences in Australian higher education continue to be influenced by the sociopolitical narratives of alterity which locate the students as more likely than their nonIndigenous peers to struggle academically and need support. These western-centric perceptions of indigeneities not only affect Indigenous students’ everyday university experiences but can even influence their decision whether to persist with their studies or not. Drawing on data collected in a large, metropolitan Australian university, this article presents a case study of Indigenous students’ ways of perceiving and resisting their positioning by the dominant university systems as ‘problematic’, at risk of failure and needing support. Specifically, the article explores educational pathways of three Indigenous students, their narratives exemplifying primary strategies of enacting and articulating resistances to the dominant education structures in order to fuel academic success.     

Problem-based learning in formal and informal learning environments

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered instructional strategy in which students solve problems and reflect on their experiences. Different domains need different approaches in the design of PBL systems. Therefore, we present one case study in this article: A Java Programming PBL. The application is developed as an additional module for the Learning Management System (LMS). This way the LMS is extended by PBL functionality and the LMS learning resources can be used in PBL.     

Determinants of Attraction,Retention and Completion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Degree Research Students: A Systematic Review to Inform Future Research Directions

Expanding the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian (hereafter respectfully Indigenous) talent pool to undertake valuable roles in business, health, education, academia, government, policy development and community development is critical for addressing current disparities between Indigenous and other Australians. Parity of access and engagement with education plays a key role in facilitating participation in these roles but has not yet been attained. This article provides an initial systematic review of literature on the state of the evidence regarding access/attraction, retention and completions for Indigenous Higher Degree Research (HDR) students. This article identifies the quantity (number examined), nature (e.g. focus of study), quality (peer reviewed and evidence of methodological rigour) and characteristics (e.g. publication type, authorship) of the limited publications. Using specific search strings (words or phrases of relevance to the topic), a systematic review methodology was employed to search nine databases and grey (non-peer reviewed) literature from 1995 to 2015. The resultant 12 publications were mined with quality assessed and a predetermined framework used to extract and synthesise the characteristics from individual publications. This research contributes to existing literature about Indigenous Peoples in HDR programs internationally in identifying significant cultural and institutional barriers and highlighting institutional enablers which can contribute to attraction, retention and completion. Building on the prior limited research reported in the review, the article highlights the need for further research and provides an initial agenda of directions for universities and government to redress the disparity in entry and completion of Indigenous Peoples in HDR programs.

     

Towards university lectures' conceptions of student learning

A range of studies conducted since the late 1970s have sought to describe students' conceptions of learning, and more recently, teachers' conceptions of teaching. These studies, using what has come to be known as the phenomenographic approach, have identified conceptions of teaching, and conceptions of learning which have had a significant impact on the teaching-learning culture of higher education institutions in many parts of the world. The study reported here contributes to our understanding of student learning, describing it from the viewpoint of lectures from a range of disciplines. From the viewpoint of these lectures student learning was seen variously as: acquiring knowledge through the use of study skills; the absorption of new knowledge and being able to explain and apply it; the development of thinking skills and the ability to reason; developing the competencies of beginning professionals; changing personal attitudes, beliefs or behaviours in responding to different phenomena; and a participative pedagogic experience. The relationship between these conceptions and previously identified conceptions of teaching and learning is discussed.     

Structural characteristics of university engineering students' conceptions of energy*

This study examined structural characteristics of university engineering students' conceptions of energy elicited through paragraph writing and their relations with categories of their conceptions specific to energy in solution processes identified through interviews. We found that structures of students' conceptions are characterized primarily by characteristic, example‐of/type‐of, and lead‐to types of relations, and these relations correspond with categories of students' conceptions. More specifically, categories of students' conceptions are exclusively related to energy transformation, and students failed to apply the notion of energy conservation demonstrated in structures of their conceptions to explain the temperature change in solution processes. It is concluded that although paragraph writing and interviews solicit different student conceptions, the conceptions identified from the two sources are related and paragraph writing tends to provide a more holistic picture of students' conceptions. This conclusion has clear implications for science curriculum development and instruction. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 423–441, 2002     

大学教师教学观与大学生学习风格的相关研究

教师的教学观和大学生学习风格是教学研究中非常重要的课题。本文主要运用笔者自编的“大学生学习方式量袈’以及在对国外几个有关教学观调查量表基础上设计的“教师教学观量表”,调查了西安交通大学2003级504名本科生的学习风格以及他们感知的教师的教学观的基本情况,在此基础上,从学生的视角探讨了教师教学观与学生学习风格之间的关系。研究表明：教师的教学观可以分为两类,即信息传递的教学观和促进学习的教学观;教师的教学观对学生的学习风格具有显著影响。当教师持信息传递的教学观,认为教学仅仅是以传递知识为目的时,学生更可能采用再现导向的学习方式,这将不利于学生学习成绩的提高;当教师持促进学习的教学观,认为教学的目的在于帮助学生发展并改变自己的观念时,学生就会倾向于采用意义导向和情景导向的学习方式,这将有利于学生学习成绩的提高。     

Using metaphor to probe students' conceptions of chemistry learning

Changing students' views of themselves as learners and the learning strategies they use requires methods to make their views regarding teaching, learning and their roles as learners explicit to themselves and to teachers. This was an interpretive study that investigated students' metaphors for themselves as learners within a Year 11 chemistry classroom. Students' metaphors were found to be congruent with their views of learning and their learning processes as evidenced from multiple data sources. In making students' views explicit, metaphors can provide valuable information for practicing teachers and researchers who aim to investigate and enhance students' learning processes and encourage metacognition.     

Gender differences in formal,non-formal and informal adult learning

At first sight, participation rates in adult learning do not differ strongly between men and women. Further exploration, however, makes clear that differences exist at the level of the type of learning. Men participate more in work-related learning and experience more job-related motives to participate. Women take on the main responsibilities in the home, resulting in less employment in knowledge intensive jobs and fewer opportunities for work-related training. In this paper, we use the Harvard gender analysis framework to gain insight into the differences in adult learning activities between men and women. In the empirical part, we use the Eurostat Adult Education Survey, which provides sex-aggregated data, which are needed to gain insight in the broader activity profile of the population divided by men and women.     

The influences of conceptions of mathematics and self‐directed learning skills on university students' achievement in mathematics

This study tested the mediating role of self‐directed learning skills (SDL) between students’ conceptions of mathematics and their achievement in mathematics using a structural equation model. Data were collected using the “Conceptions of Mathematics Questionnaire” and the “Self‐Rating Scale of Self‐Directed Learning”, together with students’ achievement in mathematics. A sample of 440 first year university students at King Saud University participated in the study. The findings confirm the moderating role of students’ self‐directed learning skills between their conceptions of mathematics and their achievement in mathematics. Students who have a highly fragmented conception of mathematics tended to have low SDL skills, and in turn low mathematics achievement (partial mediation), whereas students who have a highly cohesive conception of mathematics tended to have high self‐directed learning skills, and in turn high mathematics achievement (full mediation). Mathematics educators should be aware that students’ conceptions of mathematics may be influential, but not sufficient to predict achievement in mathematics. Equipping students with appropriate conceptions of mathematics and self‐directed learning skills is key to enhancing their performance in mathematics.     

The role of self-determination in informal and formal science learning contexts

Learning Environments Research - The goal of this research was to explore cognitive, self-determined learning and autonomous motivational effects in the context of a mobile science exhibition...     

Secondary school students' conceptions of learning and their relationship to achievement

Conceptions of learning were investigated in three studies. Study 1 piloted a modified version of Purdie and Hattie's (2002) Conceptions of Learning Inventory (COLI-I) with 236 secondary students. Multilog analysis was used to remove items with poor measurement characteristics. Study 2 used a nationally representative sample of 701 New Zealand secondary school students who completed the COLI-II. The measurement model had marginally acceptable fit. Study 3 consisted of 608 secondary students who completed a slightly revised COLI-III and provided standardised academic reading and mathematics achievement data. The Study 2 and 3 samples were found to have configural invariance and the structural model mapping students' conceptions of learning onto their academic achievement had acceptable fit. The conception that learning is a duty predicted lower achievement and the conception of learning as continuous predicted higher achievement. This is the first study to empirically demonstrate a direct relationship between learning conceptions and academic outcomes in the secondary sector.     

Use of interactive–informal assessment practices: New Zealand secondary students' conceptions of assessment

This study aimed to investigate how students' conceptions of assessment relate to one another, how students define assessment, and how student conceptions of assessment relate to their definitions of assessment. A nationally representative sample of New Zealand secondary students (N = 705) responded to a 45-item Conceptions of Assessment inventory and a list of 12 assessment practices. Well-fitting measurement models were found. The more students agreed that assessment was to help them improve the more they associated assessment with teacher-controlled practices. Further, the more students perceived assessment as irrelevant the more they defined it as interactive–informal practices. Thus, more student-oriented practices were conceived as creating a positive social environment that was irrelevant to learning.