Spheres of Influence: Ventures and Visions in Educational Development*3-6 July, 2002 AbstractEnhancing learning using generic and specific aspects of knowledge formationPeter Petocz, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia Recognising and understanding the diverse ways that students learn is an important step in setting up effective environments for learning. A traditional way of getting this information is to observe the quality of assessed work and classroom interactions. An alternative and more direct method is to actually ask students to tell you about their own learning. While some students will be less successful than others in articulating their ideas, an overall picture will emerge of the variety of ways in which students understand what it means to learn. Such an approach has been used to investigate students' experience of learning in a variety of contexts. One practical effect of this line of enquiry has been the discovery of the dichotomy between teacher focused, content orientations to learning associated with a surface approach to learning and student focused, learning orientations associated with a deep approach to learning. These qualitatively different conceptions of learning result in discernible differences in learning outcomes. While some aspects of learning seem to be universal, others depend on the context of learning. In this paper, we look at two parallel studies of students' conceptions of learning in statistics and in music, areas quite different both in content and traditional methods of pedagogy. Research in these and other academic disciplines suggests that there is a strong relation between students' (and teachers') perception of professional work and their conceptions of their discipline and learning within that discipline. We will discuss how this 'Professional Entity' is apparent in statistics and music, and lead a forum investigating how an appreciation of the Professional Entity can help teachers enhance their students' learning in other disciplines. Key words: Objectives, outcomes and activities: Dr Peter Petocz is a statistician and senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney. His research interests include statistics education and applied statistics. He has been interested in and active in the area of educational development for most of his career, first as a practicing teacher working with informally and formally with individual colleagues and teaching teams, and then from the point of view of research into conceptions of student learning. Dr Anna Reid is a senior lecturer in the Centre for Professional Development, Macquarie University, Sydney. She has focused on the areas of learning and teaching in higher education, where she has been involved with the development of formal and informal professional development academic staff, research in higher education in conceptions of teaching and learning, group work, work-based learning, flexible learning, assessment and evaluation, environmental sustainability and internationalisation. Another area of her interest is academic leadership, working with several university wide committees and implementing and evaluating strategic initiatives within faculties. Contact: Peter Petocz, email: Peter.Petocz@uts.edu.au |