INDUCTION FOR PART TIME LECTURERS (7)

UNIT THREE: A FRAMEWORK FOR STUDENT LEARNING

On the basis of the preceding information, it is possible to formulate a framework for student learning (see Figure 1). This framework can be seen as a guideline for lecturers who wish to use their teaching to advance student learning.

Learning is in itself an active process during which links are forged between new and existing information and where networks and links between and within knowledge units are formed. Effective teaching will also be more apparent when:

• The lecturer can determine as accurately as possible what the student already knows and how his/her existing knowledge is organised;

• the lecturer purposefully designs learning tasks that build on the student’s existing cognitive structures and which are directed at the knowledge and comprehension that is to improve;

• new knowledge and comprehension is given meaning through links to students’ previous experiences or existing knowledge;

• students are given an indication beforehand of what existing knowledge they will need in order to make the new inputs meaningful;

• the student’s dominant learning orientation and the nature of the assignment fit together or when any of a number of learning methods can be applied equally well;

• students know what their learning strategies are and also which alternatives exist and

• Students develop a repertoire of learning skills and strategies from direct teaching, explicit role models of lecturers, practice and feedback.














FIGURE 1: A FRAMEWORK FOR STUDENT LEARNING

Existing knowledge in Learning context Resolutions/
Knowledge motivation
The form of images, Active selection to learn
And of what has active processing
Concepts, facts, etc. already been e.g. linking, forging ties,
Net- learned structuring, re-structuring,
And networks, ties extending, collecting,
Re- adapting, applying, refining
And links that have automating, memorising,
To be analysing, synthesising,
Already been forged comparing, evaluating,
Using imagination,
Problem solving,
Giving meaning
Awareness of own learning (metacognition)

SELF AND TASK PERCEPTION
New active to be gained screening new links, and works and selection lationships of new understood inputs. Level of learning skills

Preferential attitude
To learning
*knowledge seeking
*understanding seeking
Adapted from: Bitzer and Venter (2002).

Consequently, two important factors in student learning which influence teaching are discussed, namely group differences in respect of “traditional” and “non-traditional” students. With regard to the latter category, further reference is made to younger, immature learners from a “non-traditional” milieu, and older, more mature students. In order to render the situation concrete, the CUT and its Regional Learning Centres are referred to as learning environments.

UNIT FOUR: STUDENT LEARNING: DIVERSITY IN LECTURE ROOMS

1. Difference between traditional and non-traditional learners at the CUT

1.1 Traditional learners

By “traditional” CUT learners we mean the following:

• 18 to 25 years of age
• Monoculture
• Sesotho speaking
• Christian reformed in life orientation
• Predominantly residential / full-time
• Originating from a higher and middle-class socio-economic group.

1.2 Non-traditional learners

By “non-traditional learners we mean students with one or more of the following characteristics:

• Older than 25 years of age;
• with a home language other than a black language or English;
• and who probably had English as medium of instruction during their secondary school career;
• being part time and
• Originating from a middle-and lower class socio-economic or full time employed group.

1.3 Teaching non-traditional learners

Non-traditional learners at the CUT and its Regional Learning Centres can be divided into two main groups, namely those with an educationally and/or socio-economically deprived background, and the more mature, older part time or fully employed students.

1.2 Problems experienced by non-traditional learners

Students in this category usually experience one or more of the following problems:

• In sufficiently prepared educationally for a higher education experience.

• Adjustment problems (social, personal, etc.).

• Instructional medium and medium of primary learning material different to mother tongue or language of secondary education system.

• Ethnocentric attitudes of lecturers and other students and;

• Commitments to employers/family.

Learning deficiencies:

• Reading problems with a lack of:
o Comprehension;
o underdeveloped vocabulary;
o phonetic related problems and
o Reading speed.


• Writing problems include problems with:

o Sentence and paragraph construction;
o logical and orderly structuring of essays and
o Spelling.

• Problems with mathematics:

o Inability to understand basic mathematical concepts;
o lack of computer skills and
o Suffer from “mathematics phobias”.

• Problems with regard to study skills:

o Lack of self-management and independent learning skills;
o inability to process literature correctly;
o inability to get to grips with modern technology;
o inability to listen and
o Inability to make notes.

• Experiential deficiencies:

o Lack of exposure to people, places, events, habits and customs outside the individual’s immediate environment and;
o Insufficient prior knowledge that can serve as a foundation and with which new knowledge can be associated. (Venter, 2001)

• Employer/family related problems:

o Working hours;
o insufficient commuter services after hours;
o soul bread winner and
o Clashes with time tables and assessment schedules.

Due to the study problems that part time students experience who are fully employed or who are parents of families, it is essential that part time lecturers take serious notice of andragogics (adult learners).

1.3 Andragogical approaches

The work of Bezuidenhout (2005) consists of a number of broad statements in respect of the characteristics of adult learners. In studies in which his questionnaires were used, the following traits were identified as being characteristic of adult learners:

 Adult learners learn more effectively if they are encouraged to bring new or difficult concepts in relation to their previous experiences.

 Adult learners are usually more problem oriented than subject/discipline oriented.

 Adult learners usually require learning experiences that are related to their work/living situations.

 Most adult learning takes place outside the formal teaching situation.

 An adult’s experience may be detrimental to his/her learning, since adults are less inclined to change.

 Adults should be involved in the formulation of learning goals.

 Most adult learners can spend only the absolute minimum amount of time on the achievement of learning goals, since they often have many other commitments and many other aspects (job, family) make demands on their time.

 Adults and children do not have the same orientation when it comes to learning. It is therefore important that lecturers are knowledgeable about the different human developmental stages.

 The older people become, the more individual differences can be found within a group.

 Adult learners learn more effectively when they attain their own preferred rate of learning.

 Learners’ performance in assignments where vocabulary and general knowledge play a role improves as they become older. Research has found that performance in the human sciences and social sciences improves as learners grow older, while performance in mathematics and natural sciences tends to decline.

 Older learners (over 40 years) take longer to complete assignments than younger learners.

 Age influences reading rate. The ability to learn does not diminish, only the rate at which learning takes place. Age in itself has little influence on a person’s ability to learn. Research has shown that most adults at 30 or 50 years of age have the same ability to learn as at 20 and 30 years of age, particularly if they are able to select their own learning rate.

 Adults have strongly individualised learning styles – especially as a result of their broader life experience.

 Adults often do not have sufficient learning skills – and the resulting test anxiety plays a major role in their academic performance.

 Poorer hearing is a common characteristic of adults. This can lead to depression, anxiety and frustration. The same applies to poorer vision.

 Reaction time (especially psychomotor) is more delayed in the case of older people – especially after age 40.

 Adults are more sensitive to disappointment than children.

 Adults approach their studies with a higher degree of readiness and;

 Motivation plays a very important role in adults’ learning success. Adults are usually highly intrinsically motivated (motivation lies in the learning assignment itself ad does not come from “outside”).