Complete thesis - Murdoch University

chunks, poorly indexed (and therefore managed) is seen to lead to higher chance of failure torecognise and retrieve knowledge as required. Links may be missing (or incorrect) leading toa ripple effect and propogation of errors during performance. In addition, exposure to a narrowcurriculum (defined as limits to the variety of problem classes/ situations/representationsetc) can impede the creation of well-connected and integrated knowledge and inhibit futurelearning (Gobet and Wood, 1999).This poor fit can be further explained, at a more abstract level, by a lack of ‘generic integrity’within the discipline. As noted in Candlin (1998), genres are recognisable as representativesof particular discourses and discourse worlds, and have value as evidential data of particularsocial and institutional practices and memberships. Genres display textual characteristics,and are identified as such by co-members of the discourse world. However, their recognisabilitystatus is increasingly unsure: intertextuality (what is explicit in one context may betransmuted by incorporation in another), discursively mediated participant relationships andprocesses and regulated institutional practices determine generic integrity.Computing (as a specific example drawn from the broad IT arena) is seen to both permitand encourage a laissez-faire hybridisation of generic structures (the work of Gollin (1998)and others cited in Candlin (1998)) and tests the issue of generic integrity to the full. Thedivergence into sub-disciplines, the lack of discipline-specific guidelines and manuals derive(in Gollin (1998)’s view) from confusion over the nature of the communicative event, itspurpose and especially the tenor of relationships between participants.Within an educational context, the challenge to generic integrity is seen to lie in the tensionsarising from the simultaneous framing of the students as professionals solving real-world problemsand as students being assessed on their learning. Again the issue is between approvedand actual behaviour, here pedagogy versus workplace.Learners in traditional setting predominantly constitute students preparing for a career –classroom based students. Courses are designed to provide breadth and depth of knowledge,the relevance of which may not be fully understood by students. Real-world application ofthis knowledge is seen as at a distant horizon. This leads to a perception of low relevanceand fuels low motivation. Learner focus shifts to skills that will yield higher grades as animmediate objective: cognitive skills related to ‘exam techniques’ acquire importance thoughthey do not model real life situations. The learning, in many cases, is reduced to assignmenthopping with ‘just-in-time’ and just-enough’ learning to fulfill the assessment tasks, witha lack of adequate time for reflection on what is learnt, thus defeating the objectives ofproviding a well-balanced learning experience (Patel et al, 2000).150