Abstract
Previous research has described some of the main characteristics of university teachers who teach in different ways, using a variety of methods and conceptions. What is generally missing from previous research is the impact of contrasting teaching approaches on students with different learning characteristics. The present investigation builds on a previous case study that identified the potential influence of a “meeting of minds” between tutors and students in developing personal understanding and also suggested contrasting perceptions of differing forms of teaching. Twenty-one in-depth interviews were used to identify distinctive perceived ways of teaching and groups of students with contrasting learning intentions, looking in particular at the perceptions of tutors who were seen to encourage a “meeting of minds.” The main characteristics of these tutors were found be tolerating ambiguity, showing authenticity and empathy, which led to providing opportunities for discussion in breaks, and offering thinking spaces within class. The analyses identified contrasting perceptions of teaching among students who differed in their learning characteristics and suggested how cognitive and affective elements in students’ experiences of teaching might be intertwined in influencing the development of personal understanding.
Highlights
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Educational Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
Previous research has described some of the main characteristics of university teachers who teach in different ways, using a variety of methods and conceptions
The analyses identified contrasting perceptions of teaching among students who differed in their learning characteristics and suggested how cognitive and affective elements in students’ experiences of teaching might be intertwined in influencing the development of personal understanding
Summary
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Educational Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology. Previous research on teaching explored students’ preferences for different types of teachers and teaching using both observation and student questionnaires (Wubbels and Brekelmans, 2005) Their questionnaire was subsequently adapted for use in higher education and indicated that students preferred teaching based on emotional proximity – directing, helping, supporting, and understanding (Fraser et al, 2010). The phenomenographic approach to research (Marton and Booth, 1997) provides a way of systematically differentiating between different approaches to teaching through in-depth interviews with university teachers Using this approach, Prosser and Trigwell (1999) identified five categories of approaches to teaching, which ranged from a predominant focus on transmitting information to encouraging conceptual change. This last category is closely linked to the ideas about teacherlearner relationships explored in the current study
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