Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Studio Week show that this student cohort, while slightly leaning towards a deep approachto learning (as should be evident at this stage in their undergraduate progress), are notoverly oriented towards Meaning (MO mean 2.62, standard deviation 0.54) compared toReproduction (RO mean 2.06 standard deviation 0.48) 1 . Unfortunately, further analysis ofthe data shows no evidence that the 4th year students in this cohort favour Meaning aboveReproduction - the indications are that this is an individual trait.What may be significant is a comparison of the ASI score for the ENG260 2003 students whohad progressed to 4th year in 2005. Although a very few students fit the criteria, results canbe considered in a positive light (see Figure 8.3), with a marked increase in MO.Figure 8.3: ASI scores for 2003 ENG260 students in 2004All students completed the orientation programme successfully - success being measured interms of both the product (task adequately designed) and the process (group process established,PBL process applied). Students demonstrated their engagement with this learningmodel: the quality of the final presentations and diversity of solutions emphasised their abilityto be self motivated independent learners. Significantly, initial observation indicated thatstudents who were at Murdoch Engineering prior to the Design Week were better able tomake the shift to Studio Learning - understandable since it is preempted in several unitsalready running. However, student feedback showed that articulation students and (international)students joining the School on exchange programmes initially found the learningmodel disorienting and confronting.1 These figure can be compared with the ASI results of the ENG260 cohort (see Section 7.2.4)337