Transcript Teaching-learning environments and student learning in

Designing teaching-learning
environments to promote
disciplinary ways of thinking
Noel Entwistle
University of Edinburgh
Project web site: www.ed.ac.uk/etl
Outline of the seminar
 Key concepts and findings from previous research
 Introduction to the ETL project
 Additional concepts developed during the ETL project
 Analyses: electronic engineering as an example
 Findings from other subjects and the project as whole
 Discussing ways of promoting disciplinary thinking
Key concepts
and findings from previous research
 Epistemological development during the degree course
 Conceptions of learning and their development
 Approaches to learning and studying
 Perceptions of teaching affect approaches & vice-versa
and teaching itself affects ways of studying, not just knowledge
 Teaching-learning environments acting as systems
Conceptions of knowledge -
Relativism
Dualism
Knowledge
as absolute,
provided by
authorities
Perry 1970
Multiple
perspectives opinions of
equal value
Awareness of
knowledge
as
provisional
Evidence used
to reason
among
alternatives
Commitment to
a personal,
reasoned
perspective
Pivotal
position
Recognising & using
dif fering forms of
know ledge and
learning processes
Expanding aw areness through a broader, integrative conception
Threshold
Acquiring
factual
information
Memorising
what has
to be learned
Applying
and using
knowledge
Understanding
the meaning for
oneself
Reproducing
Seeing things in
a different way
Seeking meaning
Conceptions of learning -
SŠ
ljŠ
, 1979
Changing
as a person sense of identity
Approaches to learning and studying
 Deep approach in learning - seeking meaning
 Surface approach in learning - reproducing
 Strategic approach to studying - organised effort
Marton, Hounsell & Entwistle (1997)
Deep approach to learning
Intention to understand ideas and engage with them
Typical learning processes - but specific to each subject area
Relating ideas to previous knowledge and experience
Looking for patterns and underlying principles
Checking evidence and relating it to conclusions
Examining logic and argument cautiously and critically
Memorising whatever is essential to understanding
Monitoring understanding as learning progresses
Outcome Thoughtful accounts with evidence of independent
identification and structuring of information and reasoning
Surface approach to learning
Intention to reproduce without much effort or thinking
Typical learning processes
Treating the course as unrelated bits of knowledge
Routinely memorising facts & carrying out procedures
Focusing narrowly on the minimum syllabus demands
Seeing little value or meaning in the course or tasks set
Studying without reflecting on either purpose or strategy
Outcome
Descriptive, derivative accounts relying mainly
on readily accessible sources
Strategic approach to studying
Intention to carry out the required work efficiently
Typical study processes
Organising studying thoughtfully
Managing time and effort effectively
Putting effort into the required work
Forcing oneself to concentrate on work
Being alert to assessment requirements and criteria
Monitoring the effectiveness of ways of studying
Outcome
Depends on the balance between deep and
surface approaches used with organised effort
Students perceptions of good teaching

Reasonable workload with some elements of choice

Teaching clear and pitched at the student’s own level

Steady pace in presenting new ideas

Clear explanation based on what students know

Staff enthusiasm for the subject being taught

Staff interest in, and empathy with, students

Provision of full and timely feedback on performance

Fairness in assessment with grades fully justified
Marton, Hounsell & Entwistle (1997)

Attribution of causality through comments
The concepts are difficult but the lecturers assume we know it and so go at
a fast pace. People can’t say they don’t understand, and yet the lecturer
keeps on going; once you get behind, you can’t get back on terms. (Engineering)
Recently we were doing Fourier analysis, and the lecturer gave an explanation,
saying that it was like when you banged a drum and got lots of different sounds. He
said “ If you look at it this way, you can see why”, and he was right, you could see
why. (Physics)
If the tutors have enthusiasm, then they really fire their own students … I’m really
good at and enjoy this subject, but that’s only because the tutor has been so
enthusiastic and now I really love it (English)
Some staff have a lack of empathy about students’ relative knowledge levels,… so
you can’t attach anything that you’ve been told to something that you know already,
and yet that is important in learning… (Psychology)
Analysing teaching-learning environments
as a web of interacting influences
“Inappropriate approaches (to learning) are simply induced (by
teaching): just one piece in the‘jigsaw’ that is out of place ... may
interfere with the relation between the learner and the content.
Encouraging students consistently to adopt deep approaches and
employ them holistically is ... difficult because ... all the pieces
need to fit together.”
Eizenberg, 1988, p. 196-7
A systems approach to higher education
Constructive alignment involves choosing aims that demand
individual understanding, ensuring that teaching methods
encourage and support those aims and that assignments and
assessment focus on, and reward, the achievement of those aims.
The students are ‘entrapped’ in this web of consistency, optimising
the likelihood that they will engage in the appropriate learning
activities, but paradoxically leaving them free to construct their
knowledge
Biggs (2003, p. 27)
Introduction to the ETL project
Outline research objectives and processes
 Work with colleagues in five subject areas to identify the most
distinctive aspects of teaching and learning in their subject area
 Explore how specific teaching-learning environments in each
subject area affect students’ approaches to studying and learning
outcomes.
 Use this evidence to negotiate possible adjustments to the
teaching-learning environment and evaluate their effectiveness
 Develop conceptual frameworks and ways of thinking about the
effects of teaching-learning environments on the quality of student
learning
Diverse settings investigated
 Five contrasting subject areas involved initially
electronic engineering, biological sciences,
economics, history, and media studies (dropped later)
 17 departments in varied university settings,
ancient, civic, 1960s,1990s & one college
 Working with two course teams in two course units in each
university - early and late (mainly first and final years)
Main phases in the project
 Investigate the teaching-learning environments used by staff in
departments rated as ‘excellent’ in TQA/QAA
 Analyse questionnaire and interview data collected during the first
year of the collaboration and discuss the implications of the
findings with the course team
 Discuss the possibility of a collaborative initiative designed to
enhance the teaching-learning environment
 Implement the initiative and collect the same data from the
following year group; analyse and discuss with the course team
the effects of the changes
Main components of data

Analyse eight reports from TQA/QAA reports of departments rated
‘excellent’ in each subject area and conduct telephone interviews
with staff in four of them
 Interview collaborating staff; distribute questionnaires to students at
the beginning (Learning and Studying) and the end of each
selected course unit (Experiences of Teaching and Learning)
 Interview small groups of students about their experiences of the
teaching, using a schedule based on the second questionnaire but
encouraging additional aspects to be raised
Main concepts used during the ETL project

Ways of thinking and practising (WTP) and throughlines

Teaching-learning environment (TLE)

Perceptions of the teaching-learning environment

Approaches to learning and studying

Constructive alignment - congruence within the TLE

Troublesome knowledge

The ‘inner logic’ of the subject and its pedagogy
Ways of thinking and practising
in the subject (WTP)

During most of the interviews, staff seemed to be more comfortable to
talk about what we came to see as the ways of thinking and practising
in the subject, rather than about the formally defined intended learning
objectives
Ways of thinking and practising in the subject describe “the richness,
depth and breadth of what students might learn through engagement
with a given subject area in a specific context. This might include
coming to terms with particular understandings, forms of discourse,
values or ways of acting which are regarded as central to graduatelevel mastery of a discipline or subject area…
McCune & Hounsell (2005)
Ways of thinking in economics
More recently I've come round to the view that economists have
acquired a way of looking at the world which is indelible, and even
though they may not find themselves in a position where they can
use their analytical techniques very consciously, in fact their
whole way of treating questions is affected by this kind of training.
quoted in Entwistle (1997)
Throughlines
to keep the focus on understanding
Throughlines reflect what teachers believe is most important
for the students to learn in their course (WTPs)
These goals are set out clearly and revisited regularly during
the course to keep the students focused on the understanding
aims decided for the course (i.e. aims with that focus).
Introduced as part of the Teaching for Understanding Framework
developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education Project Zero.
(Wiske, 2003)
External
validation
EXTERNAL
INFLUENCES
Subject
benchmarks
Teaching
conventions
Employers'
views
Popularity of
the subject
TEACHING-LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
in electronic engineering
Lectures,
e-learning and
other materials
Explaining
principles &
procedures
WTP
Acquiring experience
& checking workings
Assignments
and worked
examples
Checking on
understanding
& progress
Assessment
criteria and
procedures
Seeing relevance
through applications
Providing advice
& encouragement
Laboratories
and simulations
Tutorials
and other
student support
INSTITUTIONAL
INFLUENCES
Student
intake
Regulation of
assessment etc.
Quality assurance &
performance indicators
Level of RAE and
other funding
Perceptions of course demands
 Prior knowledge required
 Pace with which new material presented
 Difficulty of the concepts and skills being learned
 Difficulty of the generic skills involved
 Workload required
Perceptions of teaching-learning environment

Overall enjoyment and interest

Clarity and coherence in course organisation

Teaching that encourages learning

Set work and feedback supporting learning

Staff enthusiasm and support

Support from other students
Troublesome knowledge

Ritual knowledge - names and dates are rote learned

Inert knowledge that the student does not often use

Conceptually difficult knowledge
such as complex technical knowledge or ideas affected by
mistaken expectations derived from everyday experience

Alien knowledge such as presentism in history

Tacit knowledge - acted on but not conscious of.
Perkins (in press)
Threshold concepts
in economics
A threshold concept can be considered as akin to a portal,
opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking
about something. It represents a transformed way of
understanding… or viewing something without which the learner
cannot progress.
[For example,] if opportunity cost is ‘accepted’ by students as a
valid way of interpreting the world, it fundamentally changes their
way of thinking about their own choices, as well as serving as a
tool to interpret the choices made by others.
Meyer & Land (2003)
Strategy for integrating findings

Establish the main type of ways of thinking and practising being
encouraged in the course units
 Analyse questionnaires and interviews to establish the extent to
which students saw the teaching-learning environment as
supporting their learning effectively
 Discuss findings with staff and discuss possibilities for a
collaborative initiative
 Evaluate the perceived effects of the initiatives to explore
effective pedagogy within the subject area
A summary of the overall project findings can be found in our Final
Report to the ESRC, while more detailed descriptions are in our four
Subject Area Reports. All these are available on the project website.
Changes in approaches to studying
Percentage agreement with items before and during units
Course unit
A (94)
B (68)
C (54)
95.6
72.1
87.5
82.5
81.2
75.0
During
25.0
61.8
40.0
55.0
43.7
34.4
Before
During
60.3
51.5
77.5
60.0
53.1
40.6
Systematic and organised study Before 65.9
During 44.1
62.5
47.5
46.9
50.0
I usually set out to understand Before
During
Trouble making sense of things Before
Generally put a lot of effort in
Experiences of teaching
Percentage agreement with items on the same three units
Course unit
A (94)
B (68)
C (54)
Easy pace in lectures
25.3
46.9
72.5
Amount of work required easy
33.3
34.7
52.5
Teaching fitted in with learning
72.0
67.3
97.5
Most of material was interesting
45.3
34.7
82.5
Plenty of examples provided
66.7
51.0
95.0
Staff were patient in explaining
81.3
81.6
92.5
Feedback given made things clearer
63.7
30.6
47.5
Effects of pace and lack of variation
At the beginning I was all [at sea], sort of too much information at
one time. I just think that we’re given too many different concepts at
one time… It seemed that once we’d gone over one specific
network we weren’t given enough time to absorb the information
before we were given another one, and the difficulty level increased
as you went onwards.
You’re repeatedly reading it, hearing it, talking about it,
doing it, doing it, doing it [and] that doesn’t work for me. For first,
second and part of third year, it was a case of scraping by. I’ve
tried to go through the motions; it’s the sameness. Each day is that
pattern.
Delayed understanding
Term introduced by Scheja, in press
In second year I got a better understanding of what I learnt in first
year. Now in third year I’ve kind of learnt what I was supposed to
know in second year. It’s a shame that I’ve never felt that I’ve learned
it in the actual year [it was taught]…
When you’re being taught something, you’re just desperately trying to
learn it, and there’s not necessarily a whole lot of interest. You’re
scrambling back to notes [in preparing for the exams], trying to
understand the course. And at some point during the learning
process, you do get interested and [then] things start to fall into place
Reaction to the lack of understanding
You have to focus your energy where it’s rewarded… You work
through the problems and for the analogue ones, you don’t get
any answers out of them.
You can’t see how in the world you got from point ‘a’ to point ‘b’.
I tended to work blindly. I knew if I just followed these steps, then
I could get an answer, but have no idea what to do and yet we
scrape by.
We probably would have got great marks had we actually
understood what we were doing.
Collaborative initiatives in analogue
Increase students’ focus on understanding by encouraging
them to reflect on their problem-solving processes while
working on tutorial problems
 Problem-solving in electronics stressed and modelled during
lectures & examples classes
 Students encouraged to use a tutorial workbook to record and
comment on solutions
 Arrangements made to facilitate systematic group discussion
during tutorials
Helpfulness of teaching-learning activities
in three units involved in the collaborative initiative
Mean ratings on 1 -7 scale
Unit A
Unit B
Unit C
(N = 59)
(73)
(27)

The way diagrams presented
5.0
5.3
5.9

The way ideas explained in lectures
4.3
5.6
5.2

Lecture explanations of problems
4.2
5.8
4.9

Worked examples provided
5.0
3.6
5.7

Working on problems on own
5.2
4.6
5.3

Using the log-book
4.2
4.3
5.1

Staff help in tutorials
5.0
4.0
5.9

Discussions with other students
4.8
4.7
5.0

Feedback on work submitted
3.5
3.6
not given

Class tests and the results
4.3
4.2
not given
Experience of using a tutorial workbook
I think when [the lecturer] mentioned the logbook and how you can
look back and it will be helpful - at the time I thought, “Helpful, my
bum! I'm just going to realise I’m not going to be any good at all”.
But after about Week 4, we were answering questions in class,and
everybody was looking through their notes and Adrian says to me
– “That’s in your logbook” and I say, “Oh, so it is”, and we worked
everything out really well. So, that’s when I thought a workbook
was going to be a must then.
I got used to writing down all the problems in the workbook and
then you can sort of look back and read through it and understand
what you have done… At first I’d just look at a couple of tutorial
questions and write down what I thought. But now I've got like
pages of stuff written down, so I think the workbook now is really
important to my understanding.
Remaining issues concerning students
Other changes that students would have welcomed but could bit
be implemented included
 Overcoming a perceived step-change in the teaching of
analogue between the first and second years
 Introducing substantial reductions in the content, and more
variety provided for students in the lectures and generally
 Avoiding time-tabling problems that left students in the same
room and doing similar things for long periods
 Providing opportunities to work collaboratively and also to get
regular and helpful feedback on the tutorial problems
Ways of thinking and practising
in analogue electronics
 Appreciating the overall function of a circuit
 Recognising the crucial groups of components
 Seeing how to set about analysing different circuits
 Having the necessary analytic tools for solutions
 Developing a memory bank of contrasting examples
 Thinking intuitively in designing new circuits
The ‘inner logic’ of teaching analogue
Essential teaching-learning emphases and activities
 Circuits linked to real-life illustrations from industry
 Main circuit components highlighted in diagrams
 Ways of thinking about circuits exemplified
 Ways of solving tutorial problems explained
 Students work through sets of varied examples
 Worked examples provided at the appropriate time
 Progress monitored in tutorial work and tests
Supporting student learning in analogue
Conclusions emerging from work on electronic engineering
 The WTPs suggest an ‘inner logic’ to the subject area and its
pedagogy - certain teaching-learning emphases and activities
are essential.
 But these aspects of the teaching-learning environment are
currently offered in ways which may not suit even a majority of
students. The detailed feedback from students provided
suggestions about how all the elements might be enhanced.
 The general literature on teaching and learning in higher
education also suggested other possibilities that could be
adapted to the pedagogy of electronic engineering
Overall findings from the ETL project
 Generic pedagogic principles and methods need to be
reinterpreted in terms of the inner logic of the subject
 Conceptually-based feedback from students can be used to
enhance the congruence of teaching-learning environments
 Emphasising WTPs (rather than intended learning outcomes)
have advantages in broadening the students’ focus in studying
 Students are finding that a lack of detailed, prompt and
intelligible feedback is affecting their learning
 In large first-year classes, problems are being created by a lack
of uniform practices and of shared information among teaching
staff and tutors
Correlations between perceptions of the teaching-learning envi ronment
and indicators of attitudes, approaches and learning outcomes
Total sample (N = 1950)
General attitudes Prior approaches Approaches during
Perceptions of teaching
Interest Negative
Deep Surf OrgEff.
Deep Surf OrgEff.
Outcomes
Know Achiev
Easiness of de mands made
Prior know e
l dge required
.06 -.03
.08 -.11 .04
.14 -.21 .07
.19 .24
Pace introducing material
.01 -.03
.06 -.06 .05
.19 -.26 .16
.26 .32
Academic dif ficulty
.06 -.05
.10 -.09 .03
.18 -.23 .12
.24 .33
Workload required
.01 -.06
.03 -.04 .04
.06 -.14 .08
.12 .25
Experiences of teac hing and learning
Enjoyment and interest
.23 -.18
.26 -.16 .18
.39 -.39 .29
.48 .39
Clarity and coherence
.08 -.17
.21 -.21 .14
.32 -.38 .25
.45 .28
Encouraging learning
.19 -.13
.37 -.16 .16
.52 -.33 .28
.46 .27
Set work and feedback
.10 -.12
.24 -.12 .15
.36 -.27 .26
.44 .29
Staff support
.09 -.12
.18 -.12 .12
.28 -.20 .21
.34 .19
Student support
.08 -.14
.14 -.05 .13
.22 -.08 .19
.22 .07
Ways of thinking in history

Seeing history as being socially constructed and contested

Interpreting, synthesising and evaluating historical evidence

Placing events and topics within broader historical contexts

Alertness to interconnections among phenomena

Being sensitive to the ‘strangeness of the past’

Viewing events from different perspectives

Separating out one’s own preconceptions

Presenting conclusions using appropriate historical discourse
Enhancing TLEs in history

Refining and reinforcing thematic structures of modules by reducing the
emphasis on chronology or reducing the time period

Sharing more explicitly with students and other staff the reasoning
behind module structures and links with overall WTPs

Providing students with more detailed discipline-specific guidance on
the specific skills required to read documents and analyse evidence

Making more materials available through virtual learning environments

Modelling explicitly in lectures and tutorials how historians go about
marshalling evidence to support or contest different lines of argument

Providing supportive tutorial environments to provide intellectual
challenge without personal threat
Ways of thinking in economics

Using theoretical abstractions to think about the real world

Understanding economic concepts and models

Using deductive and inductive reasoning to analyse situations

Interpreting econometric results from statistics and graphs

Interpreting empirical evidence and understanding the
relationship between theory and data

Developing awareness of interconnections between concepts in
making sense of the wider picture of real-world economics
Enhancing TLEs in economics

Considering ways of coping with the diversity of student intakes in firstyear classes

Putting greater emphasis on conceptual aspects of the subject and
avoiding unnecessary reliance on the detailed analysis of evidence

Identifying threshold concepts, teaching them more intensively and
ensuring that assessment emphasises & rewards their understanding

Providing greater variety in students’ experiences of teaching and
learning and in the assessment procedures adopted

Developing assessment procedures that encourage broader revision
for exams while stressing the importance of problem solving

Trying to bridge the theory-real world divide more effectively by using
more authentic problem-solving
Ways of thinking in biological sciences

Understanding the nature of evidence and how it is generated

Thinking critically about evidence and its interpretation

Using visualisation where appropriate and thinking systematically

Understanding relationships between findings and theory

Designing and carrying out small-scale research studies

Recognising that evidence is contested and theories provisional

Making interconnections between topics and seeing them in a
real-world wider context
Enhancing TLEs in biological sciences

Providing fuller explanations about the reasons behind encouraging
first-year students to develop some of the communication skills used by
biologists in a assignment about explaining concepts to lay people

Encouraging better communication between lecturers and tutors on a
first-year biological sciences course and trying to make the level of
marking of coursework by tutors more consistent

Helping students to adjust to the epistemological and technical
challenges encountered by a step-change in learning requirements
between second-year and final year

Bringing in active researchers to contribute to a final year module so
that students heard how the subject was progressing. Also working on
actual data to develop research skills.
INFLUENCES ON
STUDENT LEARNING
Students' backgrounds,
epistemological levels,
knowledge & aspirations
Student characterstics
Perceptions of the
teaching-learning
environment
Approaches to learning
and studying
Quality of
learning achieved
Empathy
Effectiveness of lecturing
Enthusiasm
Learning support
provided for
individual learners
Level
Structure
Explanation
Assessment
clearly related
to WTPs
Clarity
Teaching that
encourages learning
Congruence of the whole
teaching-learning environment
with WTPs & students
The inner logic of
the subject
& its pedagogy
Set work evoking,
and feedback
supporting, WTPs
Clarity and
coherence in
course organisation
Well designed
curriculum aims,
scope and structure
Influences of
academic community
and validating bodies
Pace
What students are
expected to learn
and understand
Departmental
teaching policies
and ethos
Influences of
department/school
and institution
Discussion of ways of designing TLEs
to promote disciplinary ways of thinking
Select a particular topic area from your own experience.

What are the main ways of thinking and practising that you would
want students to acquire? A starting point could be thinking about
what is involved in adopting a deep approach in that subject area.

Is it possible to discern an ‘inner logic’ which makes certain forms
of teaching essential if students are to learn easily and
effectively?
How are these forms of teaching currently being provided?
To
what extent do these appear to be congruent with the WTPs?

What aspects of knowledge prove troublesome for students?
Could these difficulties be discussed more explicitly with
students? Would it be possible to spend more time on these
aspects and check that students have understood before moving
on?
Indicative references (1)
Anderson, C. & Day, K. (2005). Purposive environments: engaging students in
the values and practices of history. Higher Education, 49, 319-343. [ETL
project looking at history]
Biggs, J. B. (2003). Teaching for Quality Learning at University. (2nd Ed).
Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press. [constructive alignment]
Eizenberg, N. (1988). Approaches to learning anatomy: developig a
programme for pre-clinical students. See Ramsden (1988, pp. 178-198)
Entwistle, N. J. (1998). Improving teaching through research in student
learning. In J. J. F. Forest (Ed.), University Teaching: International
Perspectives (pp. 73-112). New York: Garland Publishing. [general review
of teaching and learning and an earlier version of the conceptual map]
Entwistle, N. J. & McCune, V. S. (2005) The conceptual bases of study
strategy inventories in higher education. Educational Psychology Review,
16, 325-346. [Review of several study strategy inventories]
Marton, F., Hounsell, D. J., & Entwistle, N. J. (1997). The experience of
learning: implications for teaching and learning in higher education. (now
available www.tla.ed.ac.uk/resources/EOL.html). [Approaches to and
conceptions of learning, and economics quote]
Indicative references (2)
McCune, V. S. & Hounsell, D. J. (2005). The development of students’ ways of
thinking and practising in three final-year biology courses. Higher
Education, 49, 255-289. [ETL project looking at biology]
Meyer, J. H. F. & Land, R. (2005). Threshold concepts and troublesome
knowledge: epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for
teaching and learning, Higher Education, 49, 373-388. [ETL project looking
at economics and other areas]
Perkins, D. N. (1999). The many faces of constructivism. Educational
Leadership, 57 (3), 6-11.
Perry, W. G. (1988). Different worlds in the same classroom. In Ramsden
(1988, pp. 145-161) [epistemological stages]
Ramsden, P. (1988). Improving learning : new perspectives. London: Kogan
Page. [General review of student learning by Ramsden, also with Marton]
Scheja, M (in press). Delayed understanding and staying in phase: students’
perceptions of their study situation. Higher Education.
Wiske, M. S. (Ed.) (1998). Teaching for understanding: linking research with
practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.