Abstract
This study was conducted at the Superior Technical School of Construction Engineering of Seville (Spain) with students registered in the Materials I course who received academic training using blended learning methodology. Technical degree programs are characterized by a high dropout rate and academic underachievement. For that reason, the study aimed to assess the dominant learning approaches among these students, the relationship between leaning approaches and academic achievement, the relationship between learning approaches and the extent of WebCT platform use, and the influence of learning approaches on the students´ assessment of the platform. To identify students´ learning approaches, the R-SPQ-2F questionnaire developed by Biggs, Kember, and Leung (2001) was used. The students assessed the WebCT platform using an ad hoc PSEW questionnaire. The study was descriptive and used a correlational design. The study was conducted retroactively and measured variables that were not experimentally manipulated. The results indicate that the majority of the students have a low-intensity deep approach. The deep approach was more common among the female students than the male students, and the female students obtained higher scores on the deep motivation and deep strategy subscales. The dominant learning approach had no influence on academic achievement, but the dominant learning approach did influence the extent of WebCT platform use, as well as the students’ assessments of the platform.
Highlights
This article addresses two very important issues for university education: the use of online educational platforms and studentslearning approaches.Spanish universities are increasingly investing resources in educational platforms to support classroom teaching and to improve teaching and learning processes
Overall, the students have a deep learning approach with a low level of intensity, which coincides with earlier research in engineering education (Vázquez-Martínez, 2011; Esquivel, Rodríguez & Padilla, 2009; Muñoz & Gómez, 2005), other researchers in the same field have produced conflicting evidence (Gynnild & Myrhaug, 2012; Nelson, Shoup & Kuh, 2005; Buendía & Olmedo, 2002)
These researchers indicate that the shallow learning approach predominates in these degree programs
Summary
This article addresses two very important issues for university education: the use of online educational platforms and studentslearning approaches. This model is increasingly common in university settings (Ellis, Ginns, & Piggot, 2009; Mackenzie & Wolsh, 2009) and involves complementary face-to-face and online teaching methods (Mitchell & Forer, 2010) This strategy allows teachers to take advantage of the best aspects of each method (Harding, Kaczynski, & Wood, 2005; Osguthorpe & Graham, 2003), as long as the overall design is educationally sound (Precel, Eshet-Alkalai & Alberton, 2009). The participating students received four weekly hours of teaching in a traditional classroom in addition to the WebCT platform, which contained materials such as the syllabus (in an HTML format), complementary readings, quizzes, and both synchronous and asynchronous communication tools In this design, the students must interact with the content, the teacher, the other students, and the available resources. 3) Is there a relationship between the learning approach and the extent of WebCT platform use?
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