Talanga: The School of Education Seminar Series
Date: April, 29, 2013 11:38 Age: 106 days
Presentation Title: Fiji at the Crossroad: quality learning and teaching at tertiary level
Presenter: Dr. Eta Varani, Consultant, School of Education, Faculty of Arts, Law and Education, University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
Abstract:
The increasing importance of quality assurance and enhancement in Fiji’s education system today means that the focus on teacher training and teaching effectiveness at tertiary level has now become an urgent matter.
This study examines teaching strategies in two different disciplines and their impact on students’ learning approaches. Using Biggs’ (1987a, 1987b) Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ), 280 students in the Schools of Education and Social Science at a newly established university responded to the study. 34% of the respondents are from the Education Department, of whom 90% have had varying years of teaching in Fiji schools; 66% of the respondents are from the Social Science Department. Because the Social Science course is a mandatory course, respondents represent different faculties and include both working and full-time students.
Research has consistently showed the close relationship between teachers’ approaches to teaching and students’ approaches to learning. Where teaching strategy is teacher-focused, that is, the teacher does all the explaining, students adopt a surface approach to learning which uses low cognitive level. Teaching strategies that are student-focused encourage students to construct their own knowledge, nurtures higher order thinking or deep approach to learning.
Despite the different teaching strategies adopted by the two disciplines, findings show that there was very little difference in students’ surface and deep approaches to learning between the two groups. Importantly, the low class means in both deep and surface approach to learning indicate that something is out of kilter in the teaching and assessment methods of the two disciplines.
The results of this study contribute to an understanding of students’ learning environment, that is, how lecturers present their academic tasks. The concept of metateaching suggests that teachers’ thinking about learning influences their conceptions of teaching and therefore their approaches to teaching, which in turn affects students’ conceptions of and approaches to learning.
Date: Monday 29 April, 2013.
Time: 1-2pm
Venue: FALE meeting room, FALE bottom floor, USP Laucala Campus, Suva, Fiji.
Inquiries:
Jeremy Email: dorovolomo_j(at)usp.ac.fj
