Researching our students for more effective university teaching.

Abstract

In order to provide efficient and effective education it is essential that teachers understand their students as learners. With small class sizes informal means may be sufficient; however, the current climate in Higher Education is rightly promoting greater participation and student diversity, leading to larger and less homogeneous classes since there have been no concomitant increase in resources. Therefore, more formalised means to understand students as learners may be required. One strategy to facilitate this would be survey methods. These could be employed to enable teachers to understand students’ expectations of teaching, learning and assessment; their conceptions of learning; their epistemological beliefs; and their reflective thinking abilities. Insight from such surveys may enable teachers to construct more effective learning environment for their many and diverse students.