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Problem-based learning (PBL) curricula utilise authentic problems that are based in the real-world of practice. This very characteristic enables students to develop an intimate knowledge about the intricacies of practice, metaphorically, seeing the details of the forest floor. However, it is equally important for students to develop an overall conceptual framework of the curriculum and understand how the different aspects of the subject domain relate to each other, i.e. seeing the landscape. This paper explores the extent to which these two aspects of curriculum design, in particular the landscape, were achieved in an 'Education Theories' module for lecturers in higher education. It utilises Hung's 3C3R problem-design model to help develop these connections. The findings alert curriculum designers to pay more focused attention to the holistic problem from Hung's model and the model's relationship with other learning resources (lectures, etc.) in supporting connectivity in PBL hybrid curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful graduates in today's competitive business environments must possess sound interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively in team situations within, and across, disciplines. However, developing these skills within the higher education curriculum is fraught with organisational and pedagogical difficulties, with many teachers not having the skills, time or resources to facilitate productive group processes. Furthermore, many students find their teamwork experiences frustrating, demanding, conflict-ridden and unproductive. This paper brings together the perspectives and experiences of an engineer and a social scientist in a cross-disciplinary examination of the characteristics of effective teamwork skills and processes. A focus is the development and operation of ‘TeamWorker’, an innovative online system that helps students and staff manage their team activities and assessment. TeamWorker was created to enhance team teaching and learning processes and outcomes including team creation, administration, development and evaluation. Importantly, TeamWorker can facilitate the early identification of problematic group dynamics, thereby enabling early intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the widespread approach to enhancing student learning through separate study skills courses is ineffective, and that the term ‘study skills’ itself has misleading implications, which are counterproductive to learning. The main argument is that learning how to study effectively at university cannot be separated from subject content and the process of learning. The role of ‘study skills’ within universities’ skills frameworks, and as a component of students’ long-term development is discussed. Then, it is examined, with a focus on academic writing, what learning at university entails, and what is needed to support this learning. Finally, effective approaches to the enhancement of learning at university and beyond are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated context-dependency of learning as an indicator for students' potential to continue learning after graduation. We used Maton's theoretical concepts of ‘cumulative’ and ‘segmented’ learning, and ‘semantic gravity’, to look for context-independent learning in students' assessments in a Journalism curriculum. We postulated whether the curriculum constrained or enabled cumulative learning. Students' responses to assessments were coded by their degree of context-dependency, or semantic gravity. We found that, firstly, students are overly successful in producing context-dependent answers but struggle to deliver context-independent responses. Secondly, students were not effective when they used higher level knowledge principles without the foundation of lower level ones. Lastly, the marking criteria were encouraging markers to reward context-dependent answers over context-independent ones. This study has implications for educators interested in curriculum design that enables cumulative learning in discipline specific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is evidence that students' epistemological beliefs impact on approaches to learning and consequent learning outcomes. Epistemological beliefs have been shown to influence students' approaches to study and problem-solving, motivation and persistence in information seeking. There are also some preliminary research findings that suggest the structure of learning environments can influence students' epistemological beliefs. A study was designed to investigate the impacts of a new course on students' epistemological beliefs. The new course structure was based on engaging students in web-supported independent activities prior to small-group workshops that focused on active learning. Findings indicate that students' epistemological beliefs changed during the course implementation, and that students with more complex epistemological beliefs achieved better results in the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In responding to The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA [now the Disability and Discrimination Act, Part 4]), UK universities have made significant efforts to address issues of access and inclusivity via structural changes to campus environments and developments in student support. However, little attention has been given to ensure students are well-equipped to understand issues of disability. Moreover, staff training is needed before disability issues can be successfully incorporated into the curriculum. It is essential to consider more than the practicalities of equal opportunities and rights of access alone. Despite the fact that the emerging disability philosophy embraces the social rather than medical model, the approach to managing and teaching disability issues remains rather mechanistic. A heightened awareness of disability issues can be achieved through a problem-based learning approach. However, effort is required to ensure such activities are not undertaken in isolation, given that the goal is towards inclusivity across the entire curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This self-study was designed to explore problem-based learning (PBL) as an instructional approach in the contest of a pee-service science education methods course. Through the development and implementation of PBL curriculum, the author's goals were to improve her classroom practice and her understanding of that practice, to contribute to the knowledge base of teaching and learning, and to immerse students in authentic learning experiences that would encourage them to adopt an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning. In studying her own practice, the author adopted classroom-based action research as a strategy to explore PBL. Data collection methods and sources included field notes, interviews, and student-generated documents. The author describes how many aspects of her pedagogical content knowledge (conceptions of the purposes for teaching subject matter, knowledge of students' understanding, curricular knowledge, and knowledge of instruction and assessment) and classroom practice were transformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research looks at student experiences of learning in a clinical teaching situation. At the end of a course, students took part in a class that was led by a user of the health system, rather than their usual lecturer. We chose to study this class because we knew that it provided a very different learning experience for the students and therefore gave us an opportunity to contrast this with their normal science teaching experiences. The study highlighted how embedded learning and teaching had become in a science curriculum that supported the transmission of authorized factual knowledge. It was shown that students could recognize alternative forms of knowledge and that these were valued in different ways. Furthermore, they acknowledged that they could learn in new ways although both these ideas were poorly understood. The study allowed us to reflect on our own learning and expose an important paradox in the choices we made in course design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]