Seminar 2:

3 September
Learning to Conceive the Unconceivable: A conceptions-based perspective on improving university teaching
Dr Lynne Leveson, Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Management, La Trobe University.

Abstract
The influence of students’ conceptions about learning on the approach they adopt to their studies and their subsequent learning outcomes is well established in the research literature. Broadly, conceptions which reflect a greater awareness of the complexities of learning, i.e., its abstract and relational nature, are considered as more likely to be associated with more desirable learning approaches and outcomes than those that do not. The challenge for educators and administrators is to create an environment which reinforces the more complex views of learning and which encourages approaches to learning and learning outcomes which are aligned with this. As teaching is an important aspect of this environment the significance of teachers’ educational conceptions in shaping their approach to teaching is emerging as a topic of great interest to researchers also. An important implication of this work is that efforts to improve teaching must also address the educationally-held conceptions of teachers themselves. While there is general agreement that as with students, this may involve altering (expanding) their conceptions, there is less agreement as to how this may be best accomplished in practice. Within the context of an empirical study into the relations between conceptions and the teaching work of Australian accounting academics, this paper explores some of the ways in which institutions may assist their teaching staff to develop their educationally-held conceptions as a means of encouraging higher quality teaching and learning in their discipline areas.

Bio: Lynne is the Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Management, La Trobe University.  Her previous teaching experience includes work in the Victorian Secondary, teacher education and TAFE sectors, the Corrective Services Department and the UK University sector. Apart from teaching and researching in the area of organizational behaviour, Lynne has a strong research interest in teaching and learning in higher education from a conceptions–based / phenomenographic perspective. Currently Lynne’s research is focused on three main projects – an empirical study into the relationship between accounting academics’ epistemological and disciplinary beliefs and their teaching practice, on student engagement among first year university students and an ALTC funded investigation concerning embedding generic skills into the business curriculum.

Learning to Conceive the Unconceivable: A conceptions based perspective on improving university teaching (PDF 129Kb)