Dr. Delia Dumitrica of Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication and lecturer Paulina Jarmula of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Poland) wrote a scientific article in which they propose several ways in which educators can constructively help students engage with the difficulties inherent in their own learning processes. The article, which is published in the journal About Campus, is entitled “Learning Approaches as Bricolage: Student Reflections on Fluidity and Tensions in Learning Practices”.
The ideal student is organised and efficient, managing not just their time and effort, but also their space to ensure that they are free of distractions and noise. Yet, procrastination still rears its ugly head, confusion about abstract concepts and theories lingers, and motivation to study almost inevitably nosedives throughout the term.
Students’ concepts of learning
Delia and Paulina created this fictional ‘ideal student’, which emerged from their research into how Media and Communication undergraduates describe and conceptualise their own learning practices. “When analysing 815 student reflection assignments from a mandatory research methods course, we were struck by the tension between students’ own approaches to learning and the challenges, uncertainties, and frustrations accompanying their efforts.” Students’ ideas about what constitutes learning, how learning is to be done, and how they themselves learn collectively inform their adjustment to the educational setting. Delia and Paulina noticed a discrepancy between what students think of learning and how they really approach learning in practice.
Learning approaches as bricolage
It begins with a better understanding of students’ learning approaches. “In general – following pedagogical research – we can use three broad learning approaches: deep, surface, or strategic,” Delia and Paulina say in their research. “But in practice, however, students often show an act of bricolage: they often combine all three approaches throughout a course. They negotiate and apply tactics and strategies to tackle the course material in idiosyncratic ways.” Yet, this process remains fraught with tensions that can potentially discourage students from more intensive interaction with the material; the reason why Delia and Paulina produced this study and made some practical suggestions to help students.
Recovering tensions in learning approaches
They discovered two main tensions in students’ learning approaches. The first tension relates to a ‘cognitive dissonance’ between what should be done and what is actually being done during the learning process. The second tension relates to a dissonance between the application of certain strategies and tactics (e.g., doing the readings, participating in class, being prepared) and performance outcomes. Delia and Paulina offer a few suggestions which educators can use to recover these tensions:
- Explore with students the different tensions outlined here to identify what resonates with them and how.
- Steer students away from a dichotomous approach to learning wherein tactics and strategies are presented as good/bad or effective/ineffective. Instead, position learning as a long-term process that entails experimentation and navigating roadblocks.
- Elicit discussions on the collaborative aspect of closing the individual knowledge gap by asking students to pay attention to how their interactions with one another facilitate what Cindy Hmelo-Silver’s research on problem-based learning calls the “social construction of knowledge”.
- Discuss with students the differences between deep, surface, and strategic learning, prompting them to explore which approach they rely upon most and why.
- Finally, incentivise students to participate in these discussions by rewarding “thinking about their thinking” through specific elements in your rubrics or through small self-reflexive assignments such as learning diary entries.
If you want to read the full research, findings and students’ perspective on learning, you can read the full article here.
- Researcher
