Session 1: Teaching or Learning?

Session 1: Do we focus on teaching or learning? The case for student learning

This opening session draws on the work of researchers and scholars of university teaching and learning to make an argument about the importance of student learning. The first half draws on a range of institutional data sources to present a picture about the student learning experience in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce. It asks: who are our students? What is their experience of learning? How will we use data about the student experience to improve teaching and learning? Together, we will consider how this data can be used to inform our approach to subject and curriculum design.

The second half of the session draws on the 3P (presage, process and product) conceptual model of teaching and learning developed by scholars such as Biggs, 1996, 1999, 2007; Prosser & Trigwell, 1999; Ramsden, 1996, 2003). The 3P model conceives of teaching and learning as existing in a complex system. It suggests that the quality of student learning depends less on what academics do, and more on how students themselves perceive and experience their learning (including the teaching). The case for student learning is not an uncritical one. It is not intended to signal that academics ‘give students what they want’ to the detriment of a higher education. The 3P model makes the case that specific curriculum interventions need to be directed at how students understand and perceive their learning, and that there is a crucial role for academics in engaging with, and researching their students’ learning.

You will take part in activities designed to test and challenge your ideas about university teaching and student learning. In doing so, you will be introduced to a number of key ideas in the higher education teaching and learning literature: approaches to learning, conceptions of learning and approaches to teaching. In particular, you will have a chance to explore a number of disciplinary-based studies which demonstrate how these ideas are utilised for the purpose of improving student learning. You will have a space to consider the ways in which your subject promotes student learning.