Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Curriculum - changes to the RE component of the curriculum were minimal, effectivelyfine-tuning to achieve closer alignment with the curriculum map developed. One significantbenefit was achieved through the development of the Design Week – having anorientation to the learning model outside the unit allowed for the focus within the uniton learning in the context of the discipline. No changes are identified as required forthe next offering of the unit (other than usual updating of material)Pedagogy - the PBL literature (eg Albanese and Mitchell (1993)) indicated students takeup to four weeks to come to terms with the (PBL) learning environment. This hadbeen confirmed during previous cycles of this study, but was not evident here - studentswere very confident in taking control of their learning, transferring knowledge they hadgained during the Design Week in order to tackle the material in this unit. Studentsalso appeared more willing to work with their learning diagnostics results and buildlearning strategies based on these. This suggests students were able to place themselveswithin Stage 3 of Grow (1991/1996)’s model for life-long learning. An examination ofstudent interaction in subsequent units is required to confirm (or not) these impressions.Students did, however, express dissatisfaction with some of the assessment, perhapsindicating a higher than expected awareness of what was detrimental to their learningstrategies. This mismatch has been seen to lead to student schizophreniaInstructional - the block-teaching format proved very successful. Attendance was generallygreater than 95% - students exploited the group discussion and consultation times thesefacilitated. It was noticeable that group members also accommodated those studentswho preferred to spend considerable time working alone. The group negotiated worktasks so that the additional time required by the Studio could be either individual orcollaborative.Vaughn’s comments in response to the question Do you feel there are any good things abouta unit structured in this way?, quoted here in their entirety, act as a summary of studentperception:Vaughn Yes I think this design studio is very very very(Did I mention very) well run. The problem (Development of thegame environment by Mursoft for TerColl) covers all the learningoutcomes. We have to apply learning’s to a realistic problemwhich means it moves as out in the real world e.g. the lecturer(TerColl) pointed out errors in thinking and this resulted in ushaving to revise what we had completed previously in order to366