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University students’ and teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning in the biosciences

“…The study area is not as united as demonstrated above, but some researchers (Haggis 2003;Webb 1997) have expressed reasonable criticism of the notion of deep and surface approaches, as well as of the phenomenographic method behind most studies involved. As Haggis (2003) pointed out, the results, which have produced a model with assumed relationships between conceptions of learning, perceptions of the learning environment, approaches to learning, and learning outcomes, concern only Western study contexts.…”

The centre cannot hold: untangling two different trajectories of the ‘approaches to learning’ framework

“…Criticisms of the framework have been offered by some (Webb 1997;Malcolm and Zukas 2001;Haggis 2003Haggis , 2009Marshall and Case 2005;Case 2008) and there has also been substantial development from within (see Entwistle and McCune 2004 for a review of such developments). The criticisms/ developments that I will address here include that the framework: is based upon an inadequate system of classification that has only two approaches to learning (deep/surface), which are seen to be in opposition (deep vs. surface);…”

“…The criticisms that do exist have typically taken one of two forms: (1) broadbased criticisms of the whole approaches to learning enterprise, its status as the dominant discourse within the field and the effects of that status in limiting critical debate (Webb 1997;Haggis 2003;Boshier and Huang 2008); or (2) criticism that sees the framework as broadly appropriate but nonetheless aim at its further development (e.g. Case and Marshall 2004;Marshall and Case 2005).…”

“…As a heuristic tool, the model has been extraordinarily successful and it has provided a basic conceptual framework for many of the standard texts on teaching and learning in higher education (Biggs 2003;Ramsden 2003;Entwistle 2009) and has also been highly influential in informing the work of higher educational faculty developers (Webb 1997;Entwistle 1997;Boshier and Huang 2008). Part of this success derives from the simplicity of the dualistic metaphor that underpins the model (Entwistle 1997).…”

Variations of the project sponsor role and benefits realisation: A phenomenographic study

“…A further criticism is that phenomenographers tend to identify hierarchical arrangements of conceptions, with the most highly developed carrying some level of more significance (Webb, 1997). For the purpose of this research I see the hierarchical arrangement of conceptions as adding to the depth of interpretation of the data rather than alluding to any significance of importance.…”