Introduction
This scenario raises a number of important factors about learning at university which are outlined below. Each of these factors influences and is influenced by the others. They should be considered therefore as a set of inter-related factors and not as a set of rules, one following from another. The central idea is that each of us is an individual who is unique and that extends to us as learners, knowledge of oneself and one’s preferences is therefore crucial.
The importance of organisation and structure
CB refers to feeling ‘out of my depth’ and of struggling to know what to do. One of the features of university life is that one is not told what to do, but left to oneself to get on and do it. VP refers to the importance of getting course notes organised along with timetables of sessions and modules. The overall finding in research into student learning is that those who establish a system, or a schedule, can manage the changes and challenges of university life more readily. That is not to say that the schedule is sacred, but that it provides a means of support when the going gets hard.
Support
It is important to remember that students can draw support from a range of sources, not least their friends and tutors, as well as more formal sources such as specialist services, course and module outlines. Getting to know what is available in terms of support is important, even if most of the time an individual refers only to tutors and friends as sounding boards and sources of support. Tutors will not tell students what they must do, but if students approach them with an idea, which is what KD suggests, then tutors will often offer useful advice.
Personal preferences
Knowing how and when one works best is important, as well as trying to establish a schedule that enables one to make the most of one’s preferences. This may not always be possible, CB refers to going into class when it is hardly light in the morning and for someone who finds getting started in the morning the nine o’clock session is a challenge.
It is important for students to become aware of their preferences whether these are concerned with when they study, or where they study or even how they study. Some prefer peace and quiet, others like to surround themselves with sound; some prefer to work in what to others appears to be chaos whilst others need to have neat and tidy surroundings. No one set of circumstances is better, or more effective than another, they are merely different.
Approaches to learning
In the literature on student learning much is made of the notions of surface, strategic and deep learning and a lot of nonsense has been written about them. Briefly surface learners are concerned to do the least, to treat learning tasks as impositions and hurdles which they are obliged to jump over, but with which they are necessarily obliged to involve themselves. Deep learners, by contrast, are concerned to understand and relate what they are learning to what they already know in order to refine their understandings. Strategic learners operate between these two extremes. They seek to gain the most in terms of marks and achievements from the time and effort that they invest on assignments. They make sure that they know what is required of them, to quote VP they ‘spot’ the verbs in assessment tasks and are aware of the intended learning outcomes for a module or programme. They are also aware of the assessment criteria and they will often research what students on the programme have been required to do in the past. In short, they prepare themselves thoroughly.
The problem with notions such as surface, deep and strategic learning is that they can easily become a fixed means by which students are labeled, or label themselves, as surface, strategic or deep. There is now a wealth of research to demonstrate that the same student may be a surface learner in one class, a deep learner in another and a strategic learner in a third; the approach that students adopt towards the study of a subject is largely dependent upon how they interpret that subject, what they believe the tutor wants of them and the nature of the relationship between themselves and the tutor. Time spent considering these issues is time well spent.
