This study aims, firstly, to examine the nature of the surface approach to learning in today's university context, and secondly, to explore the factors that explain variations in the use of this approach. The 61 participants were studying in six Bachelor programmes representing various disciplines. These students scored above average on a surface…

This article reports on research which aimed to examine academic staff attitudes to, and beliefs regarding the role and efficacy of, support for students' broader learning needs once engaged in degree study. It is contended here that the perspective of teachers represents a gap in current pedagogical research. The study has two complementary aims:…

This study investigated the effects of supplemental instruction, a peer-assisted learning approach, on students, learning competence and academic performance. The supplemental instruction intervention facilitated by senior students focused on developing students' use of study skills and enhancing their motivation and academic performance. Pre- and…

This study aims to identify student models of learning (sets of "intra-student" cognitions about learning) and to investigate their effect on study strategies. A two-step cluster analysis identified four student models of learning, representing students' self-efficacy beliefs, learning conceptions, attributions for academic performance…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between student influence, students' strategic approaches to studying and academic achievement, and to examine differences between students in a Master's programme in Engineering with conventional teaching and one based on problem-based learning in a sample of 268 students. A version of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between course experience, students' approaches to learning, effort, ability and examination grade, and to examine aspects of construct validity in the present versions of the Course Experience Questionnaire and the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students in a sample of 206…

Students completed the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory. Results suggest that small numbers of poorly attaining learners using dissonant study methods occur in a variety of educational settings. These learners are distinct from those lowly attaining ones who unreservedly use surface methods of studying and have low academic aspirations. (EV)

Explored theoretically incongruent learning patterns among subgroups of students. Students completed the Inventory of Learning Styles in the first and third trimesters. Learning patterns in the third trimester were far more dissonant than in the first trimester. (EV)

This study tried to take into account problems related to researching learning dissonance by applying qualitative research methods and carefully considering the criteria by which coherence or dissonance are diagnosed. Found very clear differences among students' study orchestrations in terms of coherence and dissonance; the orchestrations varied…

Examines the phenomenon of dissonant forms of memorizing and repetition from both location and structural perspectives. Attention is drawn to clear evidence that supports, in particular, an argument in favor of gender-response differences in both location and structural dissonance. Also illustrates how the isolation of dissonant response patterns…

Investigated how Indigenous Australian university students' went about learning and the relationship between individual students'"core" conceptions of learning and the ways in which they learned. Results indicated that their conceptions and ways of learning were similar in some respects to those found for other university students.…

Based on concern for social work students' abilities in self-directed learning, an orientation module was designed to better prepare students for this learning approach. Design of the orientation and specific classroom techniques are presented. It is noted that the process also raised some issues about the nature of self-directed learning. (MSE)

The Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) measures orientations to learning in higher education. Two studies used different forms of the ASI to investigate possible gender variation in approaches to studying. No consistent evidence of significant difference between men and women on individual items, subscales, or learning orientations was found.…

Suggests that although "learning to learn" has become part of the skills agenda, it actually involves far greater depth of personal development than skill development alone. Discussion of personal development and academic assessment leads to identification of related issues of power, knowledge, involvement, and design. (Author/DB)

Examined dissonant forms of teaching and their relation to student learning. Found that in units of study, students report a higher quality learning experience (deep approaches), and the relationships between approaches to teaching and perceptions of the teaching context are consonant and coherent for the more senior teachers. In units of study in…