Learning Strategies In Higher Education Research Articles

Incorporating an Authentic Learning Strategy into Undergraduate Apparel and Merchandising Curriculum

An authentic learning strategy fostering students' active learning was studied using the scenario of a real-world project. Students from two different classes at two different universities worked as clients or consultants to develop an apparel sourcing strategy. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from 44 undergraduates enrolled in apparel and merchandising classes to assess students' learning experiences from the project. According to the findings, students had a positive learning experience overall, gaining practical competencies and experiences from various perspectives needed to solve the problems. These results were further confirmed by emerging themes in the qualitative data—namely, improved communication skills, enhanced professionalism through real-world experiences, team building, learning through interaction, and improved research skills. The evidence suggests that incorporating an authentic learning strategy in higher education by providing real-world experiences can benefit students' learning and build their professional competence.

Lifelong Learning Considerations: Relationship Between Learning Styles and Learning Strategies in Higher Education

Student's awareness about their own styles and their ability to choose and use the most appropriate strategies for themselves are two important factors for their success. Learning styles and learning strategies were the subject of many studies. This study aimed to explore the effect of learning strategies, gender and departmental differences on learning style of prospective teachers in higher education. 109 prospective teachers at the faculty of education from four different departments were participated in the study. Results indicated that assimilator learning style was the most frequent style among others within the participated students. Gender has no significant effect on learning styles. Also it is been found that there is no significant effect of learning strategies on learning style of students.

Design Education Online: Learning Delivery and Evaluation

AbstractOnline learning has been recognised as an effective pedagogical method and tool, and is broadly integrated into various types of teaching and learning strategies in higher education. In practice, the use of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in higher education has become an integral strategy for quality education. The field of design education, however, has not been researched extensively in regard to online learning, delivery and evaluation. This article discusses design education from an online learning perspective. It proposes an integrated framework with three key components for online learning via VLE including an interactive delivery structure, communication channels and learning evaluation. Additionally, the article describes and evaluates how VLE sites for two design units were built based on an integrated framework and student learning experiences. The results indicate that online design education should be integrated with various educational values and functional features in a systematic manner, and requires designing learning evaluation protocols as part of learning activities and communicative forms within online‐based learning sites.

Reciprocal peer coaching and its use as a formative assessment strategy for first‐year students

Co‐operative learning is underused as a teaching and learning strategy in higher education and yet is ideal for courses that require students to learn skills that require manual dexterity, knowledge and clinical reasoning – key elements of professional and clinical competence. Reciprocal peer coaching (RPC) is a form of co‐operative or peer‐assisted learning that encourages individual students in small groups to coach each other in turn so that the outcome of the process is a more rounded understanding and a more skilful execution of the task in hand than if the student was learning in isolation. Used as a formative assessment strategy, RPC has the capacity to increase motivation in students due to the nature of the shared interdependent goal, and to provide immediate feedback to students on completion of the assessment. The purpose of this research was to interview a group of first‐year students to elicit their perceptions of the RPC process. The data were analysed from a phenomenological perspective and revealed three themes: motivating learning, learning in groups and the context of learning. The findings were subsequently explored in relation to the concept of self‐regulation of learning and the benefits which RPC as a formative assessment strategy has in promoting students’ self‐regulation.

Learning Strategies in Higher Education

Learning Strategies in Higher Education

Business Students' Ranking of Reasons for Assessment: Gender Differences

Assessment forms an integral part of the teaching and learning strategies in higher education and much has been written on related issues. A significant element of the existing literature recognizes the multifaceted nature of purposes for assessment, however few works attempt to quantify the differences. This paper describes an explorative study to investigate the purposes of assessment as seen from the student perspective, and in so doing the research team hoped to generate a valid quantitative measure. The study involved focus group discussions, with staff and students, on the reasons for assessment. A list of reasons for assessment was generated and incorporated into a two-phase ranking measure. This was then administered to a sample of first-year business undergraduates from two higher education establishments. Previous research indicates that some differences between student groups are to be expected, particularly between gender and age groups. However, given inconsistencies between previous research findings, it was unclear how the differences between groups would manifest themselves and if other variations would be noticeable, for instance between cohorts from different educational establishments. The results of this study showed strong correlation in the ranked reasons for assessment across gender and between the two institutions involved. Some significant differences in gender were observed in the top ranked reasons, particularly in the prime reason for assessment. Males ranked 'obtaining a unit mark' as most important, while females ranked 'giving feedback on progress'as most important. This paper discusses possible extensions to the use of the ranking measure and issues for further research.

A longitudinal perspective on learning strategies in higher education ‐ different view‐points towards development

Background. An important purpose of tertiary education is that students develop more advanced, deep‐level learning. Longitudinal, within‐subject studies to examine intra‐individual changes, however, are scarce.Aims. We aimed at gaining a broad picture of students' development in academic learning by taking many different perspectives. This involves the extent to which students report change, factors that contribute to this, the degree of stability of different aspects of learning, and changes in their interrelatedness.Samples. Participants were 276 full‐time students from four different university departments, (60% women and 40% men).Methods. This study has a longitudinal within‐subjects design. An inventory that measures learning strategies, learning orientations and mental learning models was administered after the first and third semester. Paired‐samples Ttests were used to analyse changes within variables. Principal component analyses were performed to examine changes in the interrelatedness of variables.Results. Results showed that students became more meaning‐directed learners during this period. Personological as well as contextual variables explained this. The factor structure underlying the variables became more clear and consolidated in the course of time.Conclusions. The results concerning intra‐individual development are satisfying. The diffuse factor structure after the first semester is explained by a period of ‘friction’ in which students have to adapt to a new learning environment. The importance of instructional effort during this period, which explicitly attends to the development of learning strategies and conceptions, is stressed.