This research monograph examines the potential of constructivist learning environments for developing prerequisites of expert knowledge during university studies. Drawing on recent theories of the development of expert knowledge and on the constructivist view of learning, an experiment was conducted in an educational psychology course. The primary purpose of the study was to compare the learning outcomes of students who studied the course material in a constructivist learning environment with those of students who learned it under traditional teaching and studying conditions. Students in the constructivist learning environment acquired more diversi"ed knowledge. In addition, a theory will be presented about what actually changes when conceptual change occurs. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

This paper describes a study which explored students ’ responses and reactions to a Web-based environment supporting problem-based learning. The study was undertaken among undergraduate students in an Australian university. The findings revealed that while the majority of the students saw value to be gained from learning in a student-centred and collaborative setting, many expressed a preference for learning in the more conventional teacher-directed forms. The study also sought to explore the potential of the environment to develop problem-solving skills and to determine factors which impeded students ’ success and achievement. The results did not demonstrate any discernible development of problem-solving skills despite students ’ extensive experience and participation in problem-solving activities. The findings have suggested a number of important factors missing in the implemented setting including an organising strategy to aid students in the problem-solving process and adequate feedback to ensure reflection among the learners on the quality of the solutions they were developing. 1

This paper describes a multi-national, multi-institutional study that investigated introductory programming courses. Student participants were drawn from eleven institutions, mainly in Australasia, during the academic year of 2004. A number of diagnostic tasks were used to explore cognitive, behavioural, and attitudinal factors such as spatial visualisation and reasoning, the ability to articulate strategies for common-place search and design tasks, and attitudes to studying. The results indicate that: a deep approach to learning was positively correlated with mark for the course, while a surface approach was negatively correlated; spatial visualisation skills are correlated with success; a progression of map drawing styles identified in the literature has a significant effect with marks; and increasing measures of richness of articulation of a search strategy are also associated with higher marks. Finally, a qualitative analysis of short interviews identified the qualities that students themselves regarded as important to learn programming well. 1

The concept of deep learning is not new to higher education. However, deep learning has drawn more attention in recent years as institutions attempt to tap their student’s full learning potential. To more fully develop student talents, many campuses are shifting from a traditional passive, instructor-dominated pedagogy to active, learner-centered activities. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis on multiple years of data from the National Survey of Student Engagement, this study examines the structure and characteristics of items about student uses of deep approaches to learning. Institutions and researchers can use the resulting scales to assess and investigate deep approaches to learning. Deep Approaches to Learning 3 Measuring Deep Approaches to Learning Using the National Survey of Student Engagement Colleges and universities are devoting substantial effort to design active, learner-centered teaching and learning environments. Findings from the National Survey of Student Engagement

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This paper reports on a project in which the development of key skills among university students was considered in the context of a problem-based learning environment delivered on-line. The results suggest that such learning environments provide many opportunities for students to develop key skills and there is great prospect in further exploring these opportunities and outcomes. Keywords on-line learning, World Wide Web, collaboration, student-centred learning, instructional design, key skills, life skills, problem-based learning Introduction Lecturers today often tend to view courses as collections of units, and to view units as collections of learning objectives linked to domain specific outcomes. But effective university teaching and learning extends far beyond the development of skills and knowledge in specific subject domains (eg. Dearing Report, 1997). There are other forms of skills and knowledge that are seen as important outcomes of university education that are common to...

This paper advocates the use of repeated applications of inventories of approaches to learning as an appropriate technique for the evaluation of educational innovations. The method is particularly appropriate for innovations aiming to introduce more meaningful forms of learning as this is a dimension measured by these instruments. The paper gives case studies showing how the measure can be used for innovations introduced in naturalistic settings. There is a voluminous literature on educational innovations. Different teaching methods, models of teaching, the latest educational media, new curricula, alternative assessment methods and many other forms of innovation have been proposed as leading to better teaching and improvements in student learning outcomes. For such claims to be believed they need some form of evaluation. The traditional approach to seeking evidence is to use the science-based experiment and control method. This approach, though, has been subject to criticism and suffers from limitations where the aim is to introduce an innovation into a genuine educational setting, rather than to conduct a laboratory-type trial. The first difficulty lies in ensuring that the experiment and control are genuinely comparable. Educational media comparison studies, for example, have been criticized on this basis by a

This paper considers existing processes in Higher Education and the opportunity for using Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALNs) to re-design the curriculum. A curriculum model based upon experiential learning, that explicitly links theory and practice, is promoted as the basis for considering the application of technology. The Computer Supported Experiential Learning project at the University of Central England is explained, and appropriate technologies considered at each stage of the learning cycle. Fundamental to this paper is the view that technology should be used to add value to the learning process, and not to simply automate existing processes. The opportunities for experiential learning to take place are considered a priority in the curriculum design process, and the starting point in deciding upon the use of technology.

Abstract—New forms of computer-mediated, online learning can benefit from new forms of assessment that fit the medium and the pedagogical style of the online environment. This paper investigates students ’ learning styles and learning strategies in taking online collaborative exams. Applying constructivist and collaborative learning theories, the collaborative examination features students ’ active participation in various phases of the exam process through small group activities online. Students ’ learning strategies, including deep learning and collaborative learning, are investigated using a 1 2 3 field quasi-experiment to compare the team-based collaborative online exam with the traditional in-class exam and with the participatory exam, where students participate in the online exam processes individually. Data analysis using results from 485 students indicates that collaborative examinations significantly reduced surface learning in exam study, enhanced interactions and the sense of an online learning community, and increased perceived learning. The results also suggest learning predispositions were significantly correlated with exam study strategies, and provide indications of their effects on learning strategies. Index Terms—Collaborative examinations, collaborative learning, deep learning, online learning, peer assessment, surface learning. With over three million university students taking online courses in the US alone in 2005, and with

Abstract: Two difficulties with group work in higher education are considered. The development of an assessment procedure integrating aspects of co-operative learning and Mastery learning to overcome these difficulties is described. Groups of students considered course material. Assessment focused on group learning. The procedure was structured to develop positive interdependence and individual accountability. Student achievement significantly improved. Students ' attitudes are overwhelmingly positive. Comments from journals illustrate the effect of this process on a) students ' attitudes to working in heterogeneous, co-operative groups and b) the value of group processing and the resolution of academic controversy. It is concluded that the prudent structuring of student learning experiences to exploit affiliative motivation can produce behaviours normally associated with intrinsic motivation.