Complete thesis - Murdoch University

ecome vital. Professional practitioners with such skills become agents of change (Garlanet al, 1997).The CreativePBL environment students experienced has gone some way to addressing thequestion of preparing students for situations that are highly variable and novel (Bowden andMarton, 1998):• shifting the focus from teaching to learning: the environment is student-centred andminimises ‘teaching’• concentrating on developing (generic) capabilities and on student learning outcomes:it may be considered a creative environment that enhances divergent thinking and thecreative potential of students, thereby addressing some generic attributes• moving from highly differentiated and fragmented curricula to integrated learning programmes:the approach is somewhat holistic.However, evaluation of this model highlighted two issues that needed to be addressed:• were student conceptions of the characteristics of their learning environments relatedto their study orientations and strategies? As has been noted, the literature suggestsmeaning oriented students are likely to see their learning environment with positiveterms while reproduction orientation is associated with the view that the learning environmentdemands surface learning and requires students to be overworked. The ASIdata did not indicate such a strong correlation – students with both higher MO andhigher RO indicated positive and negative aspects of the learning environment (seeFigure 7.16). This suggests they are receiving mixed messages regarding the learningenvironment• ultimately the CreativePBL model is a process-oriented approach (implying processis of greater importance then the product (Dahlgren, 2000)), which may reinforce theperception that RE is a smooth process of sequential stages. This was interpreted as aninhibitor to student engagement with the learning environment - the effort expended inapplying and monitoring the process did not allow opportunism and heuristic insight theimportance they were warranted in discipline practice. Andresen et al (1995) describethe need for contingency measures to be available in the creative nature of design (asopposed to problem-based learning) where the unexpected is expected.This reflection on the data gathered during the CreativePBL cycle of the study informed theplanning for Cycle 3. In this cycle, focus returned to the issues of transfer and adaptability330