Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Student E [best aspect]real world skills that would be critical in a work environment... overall I enjoyed the self learning aspectThis feedback re-enforces the conclusion drawn from the Engineering Year survey, where goodpoints included a lot of information being covered; excellent content; good lecturer versus needlecturer to use powerpoint slides on board rather than reading the book all the way; need properlectures to explain basics (even one hour per week); no good text information to study or learnfrom.Most comments could be added to the categories developed in the thematic analysis of Cycle1, with most positive comments reflecting the discipline content and its relevance, whilegroupwork could be added to environment. The majority of negative comments also fellwithin the theme of environment – some students indicated confusion, commenting doesnot have a proper course structure or provide enough guidance, and workload: studentsfound the assessment ‘vague’ (ie not pre-defined to the extent they expected)([need more]instructions on what to do). Interestingly, few comments were made on excessive workload,with one student suggesting an adequate amount of work.While these data indicate students perceived the learning environment ambivalently, howthey perceived their own learning was less clear. Also unclear was whether the final examwas a component of the assessment that was detrimental to the learning being achieved.These concerns could be partly addressed by examining student orientation to study.Approaches to studyStudents’ responses and adaptations to learning contexts are captured by information-processingmodels of learning, with a student’s choice of approach influenced by student perceptionof the nature of the course being studied, and the discipline (Entwistle and Ramsden, 1983;Ramsden, 1988). A clear consensus has emerged that students approach learning with eithera ‘surface’ or a ‘deep’ orientation, and that individual differences in the ways students approachtheir studies explain, at least in some measure, differences in study success (althoughthis is not self-evident – depending on the type of assessment, which may allow success to beachieved with a surface approach).It has also been suggested that students may adopt different approaches depending on thelearning context, with a surface approach more common where performance in exams isemphasised and approaches to teaching are teacher-centered and less so where independentlearning is stressed (Trigwell et al, 1999). Their findings give support to the contextual view318