Understanding Learning and Teaching: The Experience in Higher Education

• Main Authors: Prosser, Michael, Trigwell, Keith
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: Open University Press 1999
• Subjects: College Instruction; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Learning Processes; Research and Development; Student Attitudes; Student Experience; Theory Practice Relationship
• ISBN: 9780335198313; 0335198317

This book attempts to link research on college students' experience of learning with ideas from research on teachers' experience of teaching in higher education. The first chapter provides an overview of the research and of the book. Chapter 2 presents a theoretical model and defines its concepts, including experience, variation, awareness, foreground/background, and a relational view. Chapters 3 through 6 have a similar structure. Each chapter is structured in terms of a foreground/background relation, where one aspect of the model is seen against the background of the model as a whole. These chapters address the following model components: students' prior experiences of learning; students' perceptions of their learning situation; students' approaches to learning; and students' learning outcomes. Chapter 7 focuses on teaching. It reports on recent research that links teachers' conceptions of teaching to their perceptions of their situation and their approach to teaching. The final chapter summarizes the implications of the model and findings for student learning, for teaching, and for academic development in higher education. The Approaches to Teaching Inventory is appended. (Contains approximately 140 references.) (DB)