I just finished activity 2 and am reading though my notes again before posting it here in my blog (spelling mistakes, stupid brainwaves and comments made by myself). It is wednesday and I still have a lot to do though. This continuous reflecting on myself as a learner and as a teacher is wearing me out sometimes...sorry!
Anyway this is my attempt to reflect upon the article.
1. CompendiumLD and other new LD innovations are certainly helpful to get a proper overview of the activity. Whether it helps the student to induce more desirable approaches is a question which I think is hard to answer. I believe the new innovations are useful tools for teachers to organise tasks. I don’t believe they have influence on the different approaches of students. It makes one think in a more structured way of the planned activity but I still believe that it is the content of the activity that can encourage students to learn in different ways and not the tool.
2. Marton (1976) argues that students who adopt a deep approach taka an active role and see learning as something that they themselves do, whereas those who adopt a surface approach take a passive role and see learning as something that just happens to them.
Sfard distinct two metaphors: the acquisition and the participation. She describes and defines both metaphors and also provides us with different examples of each metaphor. However, in her article she argues that "one metaphor is not enough" and says that one can't live without the other. I don't see the resemblance at the moment because Sfard argues that both metaphors are being use in the learning process. I have experienced it myself as well. I have acquired knowledge through various activities and through participation in various communities and forums (Elluminate). I don't believe there is just one way to learn, I would therefore argue that the comparison with Sfard and Marton is not adequate as she argues that the process of learning is a concoction of both metaphors.
Marton states that one approach leads to an active role in learning and a surface approach will lead to a passive role. I don’t think Sfard believes in a learning process that black & white.
3. Sälö found 5 conceptions of learning: 1. Learning as the increase of knowledge, 2. Learning as memorizing, 3. Learning as the acquisition of facts or procedures, 4. Learning as the abstraction of meaning and 5. Learning as an interpretative process aimed at the understanding of reality. The 6th one found by v. Rossum and Taylor and called "Changing as a Person" by Marton was for me an interesting one. It means in my opinion that there is a specific process occurring within a learner. It quite fits my way of learning. I do see myself change during this course. More knowledge means different insights for me. Learning from others can make me change my opinion about particular statements. But most of all is that I found a bit of each concept in my learning style. I experience learning as an increase of knowledge but also as an acquisition of processes as well. Therefore I would say that learning means a combination of different conceptions for me.
4. If I had to choose one, I would say the sixth one "Changing you as a Person" as that would describe a process for me in which various concepts can be used. If I had to choose one of the five mentioned by Säljö, I would say nr. 1, increase of knowledge.
5. I liked the suggestion that concepts can change with experience. Although there is little evidence, I do have to agree with this assumption, or I tend to agree with this assumption. When I first started as a teacher, not in higher education though, it was all about the curriculum. I was worried that I missed specific learning outcomes. I was not so much process- orientated but more goal-orientated. After years of experience, I find the process of learning becoming more and more important as well. Becoming aware of these processes gives me a better insight in students’ way of learning and it also helps me to give appropriate guidance if activities are not understood or specific learning processes go wrong (I’m thinking of the concepts of mathematics for example).
6. I found this question hard to answer because my experience in higher education is of a long time ago; my only recent experience is the OU course which I’m following at the moment. As a teacher in higher education I don’t have any experience, so I will not comment about that.
I agree with the concept of figure 1. I believe that particular elements have influence on the way one learns. For example, age, gender, cultural influences etc. However, I would have put the box with “approaches to studying” in the middle and then I would have made different boxes pointing towards the middle.
Now it suggests that one or the other way might lead to “approaches to studying”, but again, I think it is a complex of different elements combined which will lead to “approaches to studying”.