KRISZTINA GASKÓ & ORSOLYA KÁLMÁN
2. RESEARCH FINDINGS
2.2. Utilising the fi ndings for the development the course titled Effective learning
2.2.1. Utilising the questionnaires on the lessons
Students had to complete the Flow questionnaire and the learning pattern questionnaire as part of the assignments of the Effective learning course just three or four weeks after entering the training programme. Our goal with this task was to make students aware of how they think about their learning. We prepared a personalised feedback sheet for every student on the results, and we had a group discussion about the outcome. The main focus of these discussions was individual interpretation and refl ection on
one’s own learning, however, naturally we did not deal with this in a way that we highlight a few students based on their results, but we provided certain aspects for the interpretation of the data and we discussed how they related to the group’s average.
2.2.2. The goal of applying the questionnaires
The goal of our survey was to get to know our students’ learning characteristics better, their uniqueness and pattern and to recycle the fi ndings in the course of planning the course and into the whole training programme itself. Especially in terms of the Flow questionnaire which aided us in understanding the individual feelings of students through the personal dimensions it measured. For instance, when we realised that a student scored a relatively higher point on the apathy scale compared to other scales and the group’s average, we knew that we have to pay more attention to that student in terms of the possibility of dropping out. Furthermore, if a student had an extremely high score on the anxiety scale, we made an effort to encourage this student with our feedbacks and affi rm his/her self-assessment so that the student would be able to combat situations that might cause anxiety with more success. Obviously, in the case of a course in the framework of which we meet our students once in two weeks for one and a half hour, we cannot speak of a really systematic, personalised support (this goal was intended to be reached by the system of mentoring; for further details see Chapter 7), nevertheless, we had the impression that we could successfully utilise the Flow questionnaire in identifying ‘endangered’ students and in understanding them.
2.2.3. Utilising the fi ndings of the learning pattern questionnaire in the development of the course
The fi ndings of the learning pattern questionnaire, besides helping us in understanding how individual students think about their learning, were better utilised by us in developing the course as they drew our attention to the critical points and issues in connection with the goals and topics of the course.
In order to demonstrate these changes well, we present, with the help of Table 2, the main goals, topics and activities of the course and we compare these on the basis of our 2006, 2007 and 2008 course descriptions8.
It is clear from the course descriptions that the assignments and learning activities of the fi rst term were the fi rst to change and they changed the most, and these changes had an effect on the goals and also the topics in the
8 Even though the action research covered only the fi rst two years, we still think that the examination of the course description we created in 2008 is important as it refl ects in its content the experience of the preceding two years.
third year. The main changes in the introductory course were induced by the data obtained from the learning pattern questionnaire and the interpretations of it. On the basis of this the three directions of change are: strengthening the support of cooperative learning, rethinking the support of self-regulated learning and further strengthening of the knowledge construction learning process. All these were confi rmed by the teacher workshop discussions organised by the BaBe group about the experience the teachers had in connection with the courses in the given year.
The idea of strengthening the support of cooperative learning was especially justifi ed by the fi ndings we quoted above (see part 2.1.2.) which shows that students view one another as extrinsic motivators and mutual partners as well in the process of learning, and we can discover some kind of uncertainty and contradiction between these two types of interpretations of the role of peers. As a consequence, cooperative learning became dominant on the level of assignments and working methods in 2007, and then, in 2008, it appeared as an autonomous goal and topic on the course (parallel to this it was included in the literature we used to a higher extent). In terms of student activities and tasks it could be traced well that they support group and cooperative learning more, partly in the form of working methods, and partly in the form of refl ecting to these. As Table 3 shows, the answers to the teachers’ questionnaire completed in autumn 2006 on the applied methods and tasks indicate that the need for the more emphatic role of cooperative learning activities and for its more refi ned realisation emerged as early as the fi rst year of the implementation of the training programme.
Our course descriptions have also changed in terms of tasks and learning activities in connection with self-regulated learning, due to, besides other factors, the fi ndings of the questionnaires. In the fi rst academic year, the task that was intended to aid the self-regulation of learning (table titled:
‘My plans for the term’) did not come up to our expectations as it proved to be a too complex, impenetrable and uninterpretable task for our students.
Table 2: Comparison of the course descriptions of the Effective learning course in terms of goals, topics and student assignments
Goals Topics Assignments
2006
Facilitating the process of becoming a conscious and successful student.
Developing thinking about learning and the learner.
Getting to know the special characteristics of learning at the university.
What type of learner am I?
What is learning?
How shall we learn at the university?
How shall we assess learning?
Keeping account of plans in a table titled My plans for the term (a table in connection with the courses taken, based on 11 aspects, aiding the planning and regulation of learning).
Completing questionnaires about learning (Flow questionnaire, Learning pattern questionnaire).
Completing an interview or collecting cases in pairs (conversation with an undergraduate or graduate student in Education or with a teacher of the Institute about one of the following topics: the good lecture, seminar, individual work, examination).
Written opinion on the basis of on one of the freely chosen chapters of the coursebook titled Effective learning (along guiding questions).
2007
Facilitating the process of becoming a conscious and successful student.
Developing thinking about learning and the learner.
Getting to know the special characteristics of learning at the university.
What type of learner am I?
What is learning?
How shall we learn at the university?
How shall we assess learning?
Active participation in group work, continuous documentation of the group’s in-class and out-of-class work.
Completing a questionnaire about learning (Learning pattern questionnaire1) In groups, completing a mini-interview of app. 10 questions with an undergraduate or graduate student in Education or with a teacher of the Institute about what they think good cooperative learning at the university is like.
Reconsidering the learning process of the term and refl ecting on it in writing with the help of guiding questions in two papers titled: Learning and Me, and My Work in the Small Group.
2008
Facilitating the process of becoming a conscious and successful student.
Developing their thinking about learning and the learner.
Experiencing cooperative learning.
Getting to know the special characteristics of learning at the university.
What type of learner am I?
What is learning?
Completing two questionnaires about learning (Flow questionnaire, Learning pattern questionnaire), analysing the results and incorporating them in the refl ection.
Active participation in group work, collecting materials and the assignments completed in groups or individually in the folder.
Processing the compulsory literature: writing at least 3 questions for each chapter and writing an explanation of one of chapters to an imaginary person.
Taking notes individually about a study discussing cooperative learning based on the set criteria and processing it with the group.
Reconsidering the learning process of the term and refl ecting on it in writing with a help of guiding questions in a paper titled: Learning and Me.
1 It must be mentioned here that we decided to neglect the completion of the Flow questionnaire that year because one of us (who was in charge of processing these questionnaires) was not working as a teacher at this course and was pursuing studies abroad due to a scholarship.
Table 3: Our answers given to question no.9 of the teacher questionnaire completed in autumn 2006 about the methods, assignments applied on the course Method, assignment applied Its popularity among
students
Its effectiveness (in terms of e.g. working on tasks, ability to work individually, success in learning)
Opportunities for further development, further steps ahead
List of personality traits + +
Creating common rules for
working + +
Metaphor analysis + +
Completing and interpreting
questionnaires + – (it was diffi cult to relate this to ourselves)
it would be benefi cial to have time for per-sonal discussions about the questionnaires – according to individual needs
Analysing an extract from a fi lm + – (it worked only with some help from the teacher) setting one’s own observation criteria, with the help of the teacher
Processing a text – + (even though they did not enjoy it)
Cooperative learning + +
more intensive incorporation of refl ecting on cooperative learning in the course
Creating graphic organisers
+ (but they had become boring by the end of the term due to excessive usage)
+ (we put great emphasis on these, and it seems that we
could enhance their analytical skills more or less) more types of graphic methods Analysing interviews together + + (but the task, the method of the interview was not
understood by everyone at once)
more intensive facilitation of making the interview
Explanation, discussion + + (they needed these badly and were keen on taking part in the discussions)
Debate + + (their argumentative techniques should be developed) developing argumentation and the ability to
consider several aspects at the same time
Illustration (that we created) + +
‘Most students do not yet feel that joint and individual learning process as ‘real’ learning in the course of which their student conceptions and methods can be shaped and can become more conscious, thus for example they did not take the completion of the table titled: ‘My plans for the term’ so seriously. They did not think it was important enough, rather, they just wanted to ‘complete’ the task they were given. Generally they did not do it continuously, so from this time on, as teachers we must support this task in a better way during the term.’
(Quoted from our answer provided to question no.16 in the teachers’ questionnaire of autumn 2006)
According to the data gathered by the questionnaire on self-regulation we detected it well that students need substantial support in this respect, however, it seems that we have been unable to render an ideal task to this so far, and we rather trusted the external (teacher’s, task level) support.
So we in order to support the development of self-regulation we made an effort to give smaller assignments to students during the term instead of one or a few major ones, and in addition provide more aspects and aid for the interpretation of the concept and content of refl ection and self-assessment, and generally we intended to give personalised feedback on each of their tasks. We tried to support students’ refl ective thinking also by asking them, from year 2008, not to simply ‘accept’ the results of the questionnaire, but to use them in interpreting their conceptions of themselves as students.
We were contented with the results of the Learning pattern questionnaire, as the conception of knowledge construction was accepted among students, however, the questionnaire pinpointed that this conception is accompanied
by the uncertainty of regulating learning. All this could mean that even though students are open to knowledge construction, they are unsure of how to execute it. As a result of this, in the course description of the academic year 2008/2009 we made an attempt to support the process of intelligent, interpretative learning more: primarily in the interpretative reading of the literature. We wanted students experience what it means to learn through constructing knowledge by accomplishing real tasks. Several learning methods that help construction served this purpose: posing questions that were not aimed at gathering information but interpretation and meant formulating such questions that helped in thinking on; the method of writing an explanation to a fi ctitious person; and taking notes for which students learnt methods and got hints at another course (Fundamentals of Library Informatics and Statistics).9 The accomplished assignments of students that were creative and also showing signs of constructivity in their content proved to us that at the introductory course it is important to support not just the conception of knowledge construction, but its process too by experiencing and practising minor learning methods.
Based on all these we believe that the course could successfully support students in terms of interpretative, constructive and cooperative learning both in the activities and in the form of refl ecting on them. However, the question emerged whether in the framework of this course we could motivate students more to learn in a self-regulated way and to contemplate on this.
9 We consciously made an effort to connect courses not just along matters of content but in terms of the interrelation of concrete student assignments and activities as well.