Learning outcomes and ways of thinking across contrasting disciplines and settings in higher education

This article describes the ways in which learning outcomes have been, or will be, investigated within the TLRP projects in higher education. It introduces the term ways of thinking and practising which has been used in one of the projects to describe the intentions of staff in higher education. This term covers what staff see as the essential nature of their discipline and so defines learning outcomes more broadly than is typical in the current specification of intended learning outcomes. The article considers the wide range of differences in learning outcomes that exist across higher education, reflecting different institutional missions and priorities, as well as the fundamental differences that exist between subject areas in the nature of learning outcomes, and considers some of the problems encountered in how to conceptualize and assess them.     

Preparing for Examinations: The interplay of memorising and understanding,and the development of knowledge objects

Two groups of students (N=28) were interviewed about their experiences of preparing for, and taking, final university examinations. The analysis examined the processes of learning used during revision, and, in particular, the ways in which understanding and memorising were described. A sequence of categories was identified through which to present a typical sequence of study activities in preparing for final examinations. One recurring aspect of the revision process involved the creation of "knowledge objects"--tightly structured, quasi-visual forms of understanding. The analysis showed that the distinction between "understanding" and "memorising" is not easy to delineate, with "committing to memory" and "rote learning of details" both contributing to the production of a knowledge object. The findings warn against too ready a linkage of intention to any specific process in student learning: a deep intention can involve rote memorisation, while a surface approach at university level will include understanding, even if it is reproduced from lecture notes. They also draw attention to the complexity of the interplay between different learning processes and so complement psychometric studies of memorisation and understanding.     

The Conceptual Bases of Study Strategy Inventories

This article describes the historical origins and development of a series of well-known study strategy inventories and seeks to identify their conceptual bases. The theories and evidence influencing the development of 6 contrasting instruments are considered before examining empirical evidence of similarities and differences between the measurement instruments. This analysis is tackled in three stages, looking first at inventories developed in the 1970s and 1980s that focused mainly on motivation, study methods, and learning processes. The more recent work that brought in mental models, metacognition, and self-regulation is then introduced, leading to a concluding section that discusses the conceptual bases of the whole set of inventories. The trends found in this research area are described and used to explore the current confusion of overlapping terms describing apparently similar aspects of learning and studying in higher education.     

Assessing students’ experiences of teaching–learning environments and approaches to learning: Validation of a questionnaire in different countries and varying contexts

The study examined the use of the modified Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (ETLQ) in the Finnish context by focusing on its factor structures and comparing them with those for British data. A total of 2,509 Finnish and 2,710 British students completed the questionnaire. The comparison of the factor structures were conducted using exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) and a transformation analysis. Although the differences between the factor structures prevented a combined analysis, the structures were highly similar in the two contexts. The ETLQ appears to be a sufficiently robust and reliable instrument for use across countries and, in addition, at either the level of the degree subject or the single course module.