Complete thesis - Murdoch University

The Studio Learning model provides a meta-knowledge environment that informs the learnerabout the knowledge assets acquired as part of the programme of study. Knowledge aggregationthrough learning concepts and experiences from the Studio Learning environmentis expected to lead to continuous improvement and motivate students to have a life-longlearning interest in their chosen profession.Informal monitoring of students involved in this approach suggest they integrate into theworkplace easily. However, this is deserving of further study – to track these students asgraduates and practitioners. A grant proposal has been submitted within the MurdochUniversity environment for this purpose.The future will test the long-term wisdom of this approach.9.6 In conclusionAs we learn more about how students learn, and what they need to learn in order to practice ascompetent professionals in their chosen discipline, we move further from traditional teachingand closer to the concept of learning as a reflection on professional practice undertaken byboth teachers and learners. This view of professional education has implications for thedesign of teaching:• academic learning must be situated in the domain of the objective: the activities mustmatch that domain• academic teaching must address both the direct experience of the world, and the reflectionon that experience that will produce the intended way of representing it.(Laurillard, 1993)This research shows the gap between practitioner expectations of formal education for REcan be reduced through fine-grained alignment of the learning environment with the characteristicsof the discipline. While technical knowledge acquired by students is importantin that it acts as a ‘filter’ for graduate employment, of greater impact on the professionalcompetence is the focus on soft and metacognitive skills. These are learnable within a formaleducation environment, albeit through the application of non-traditional learning models.However, what both practitioner studies (especially the work of Minor (2004)) and this studyhint at is the importance of individual characteristics and abilities. Minor’s participantsindicated a Personality component to competent RE practice. This research suggests that an416