Background. Classical instructional design theories and constructivist theoTies disagree on the issue of how high-quality learning can be realised. Research on student learning bas identified a large number of learning components, but the problems of overlap among conceptualisations and the direction of interrelations among constructs have received little attention.
Theories of learning and theories of teaching often originate and operate independently from one another. This article attempts to contribute to the integration of the two types of theories. First, the cognitive, affective and regulative activities students use to learn are analyzed. Next, different ways in which teachers can regulate the learning and thinking activities of students are discussed, as well as the teaching strategies they can use for that aim. The third part focuses on different ways in which student-regulation and teacher-regulation of learning act upon one another. Congruence and friction between these modes of control are discussed. From this interplay implications are derived for process-oriented teaching, aimed at promoting congruence and constructive friction, avoiding destructive friction and reducing the gap between learning and teaching.
Abstract. This paper addresses the following questions: how do students perform metacognitive, cognitive and affective learning functions; how is the execution of learning functions regulated by internal and external sources; what learning styles can be discerned from the viewpoint of learning functions and regulation? Subjects were students from an open distance university and a regular university. They were interviewed extensively about their learning strategies, mental models of learning, learning orientations and interpretations and appraisals of instructional measures. The interviews were analyzed in a phenomenographic way. The results indicate that there are large differences among students in the manner in which they carry out learning functions, that these differences are associated with internal and external sources, and that four qualitatively different learning styles can be discerned: an undirected, a reproduction directed, a meaning directed and an application directed learning style. Mental models of learning and learning orientations turn out to be related to the way in which students interpret, appraise and use instructional measures to regulate their learning activities. It is concluded that in many instances instructional measures do not have the intended effects. Suggestions are given regarding the implications of these results for the improvement of teaching practices in higher education.
This paper reviews the research conducted in the last decade on patterns in student learning, mostly in higher education. More specifically, the review focuses on a series of studies that have in common (a) the use of the Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS), an instrument aimed at measuring several components of student learning, namely, cognitive processing strategies, metacognitive regulation strategies, conceptions of learning, and learning orientations; and/or (b) an integrative learning theory focussing on the interplay between self-regulation and external regulation of learning processes as a theoretical framework. Aspects a and b are closely connected, because the development of the instrument was based on the theory. The review covers the following themes: The theoretical framework and conceptualization of student learning; a description of the instrument; the internal structure of learning strategies, conceptions, and orientations in different educational contexts; developments in learning patterns during the school career; consistency and variability in students' use of learning strategies; dissonance in students' regulation of learning processes; relations between learning patterns and personal and contextual factors; relations between learning patterns and learning outcomes; and process-oriented instruction.
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