Do the concepts, theories and evidence match your own experience as a learner?
The mixing and matching of approaches according to the content, context and demands of tasks seems plausible, and I recognised part of my own behaviour when reading this. And I think there's some truth in the observation that different students have different perceptions of requirements, and accordingly adopt different approaches to the task in hand.
This is interesting in terms of the potential of learning design. If we accept that learners can self-select approaches to learning, and that this choice is influenced by perceptions of the learning task (and any related materials), it follows that the way the task is presented can influence the learner's approach. Today I can be a superficial learner (in Saljö's Categories 1 to 3), depending on the task and how it appears to me, while tomorrow I might be a deep or strategic learner (in Saljö's Categories 4 and 5, or the sixth, 'changing-as-a-person' category) depending on the same perceptions. Therefore, if the learning designer can influence these perceptions, learning design has the potential to change approaches to learning. And if we accept that learners become ever more sophisticated in their conceptions of learning, perhaps continued exposure to good-quality learning design may engender a change in conceptions of learning as well.
As a learner, I found the paper to be based heavily (excessively) on formal learning and its outcomes. Learning outcomes (where they are referred to at all) are assessment-related – at worst, learning is conceived in terms of passing exams or obtaining good grades, and at best as a quasi-philosophical search for meaning. Does this cover it? What about what learners want to learn? What are our interests? Why are we, as learners, engaged in learning in the first place? What brought us here? And what have we brought with us? (More on this last question later.)
So, which of Saljö's big five am I? All of them at different times, and none of them all the time.
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Hi Matthew,
That's interesting - I actually felt that he didn't recognise enough the effect of the assessment choice on the teaching and learning habits!
Not that I think assessments are all there are to learning, but I think the effect of the choice of the assessment is really overlooked. Now, I know that my motives for doing this course are to increase my understanding in this area but I would also say that the 'value' in terms of exchange comes in passing it and gaining an OU qualification. I would say the same for my degree. I really enjoyed it and I learnt lots but would I have paid tuition fees for three years if there wasn't a certificate to be gained at the end of it? Honestly, I don't think I would have (I sound like I have a horribly commercial attitude towards education). I do like learning for learning sake - but in those situations I like to learn at a leisurely pace and have time to follow my own inclinations. With this course, and others I have studied the 'carrot' of the certificate has proved motivational in continuing!