Search results

The aim of this study is to explore approaches to learning in the workplace.

Computer based questionnaires are used with a sample of over 300 employees.

Using a version of the Revised Approaches to Study Inventory (RASI) adapted to workforce development, the factor structure of deep, surface and strategic approaches was obtained. Differences in approaches to learning as measured by the RASI were associated with training and learning histories, reasons for engaging in training, perceptions of current skill level and self reported development needs. Practical implications – It is argued that the notion that approaches to learning impact on success in a given degree course and/or are context/teaching style dependent under represents the impact that approaches to learning may have on workplace learning. Originality/value – The study demonstrates that the adapted RASI can be used with employees and that its principal psychometric properties reflect those reported for student samples.

Student populations in higher education in the United States have become increasingly diverse as a result of demographic changes. As a result, educators need an understanding of the background and characteristics of these demographic subgroups in order to improve the quality of their education. Students’ approaches to learning affect their quality of learning and are influenced by their perceptions of the learning environment and assessment. The present study extends prior research by examining the approaches to learning, assessment preferences, and the relationship between approaches to learning and assessment preferences of intermediate accounting students enrolled in a public university in the United States with a diverse student population. Students with higher deep approaches to learning had higher preferences for assessment involving higher-order thinking tasks, integrated assessment, and nonconventional assessment. Students with higher surface approaches to learning had lower preferences for assessment involving higher-order thinking tasks. The differences in these relationships for subgroups of students defined by citizenship, age, gender, and race are presented. The implications of the results for teaching and learning in accounting education are discussed.

In the light of the growing emphasis on independent learning and non‐technical skills in education and employment, the study aims to examine the relevance of learning style to student self‐assessment skill.

A sample of first‐year undergraduate students was asked to provide self‐assessed marks for their coursework and to complete measures of learning style. Tutors' marks for student coursework were also gathered.

Results revealed a positive correlation between a deep approach to learning and self‐assessment skill, demonstrating the relevance of learning style to self‐assessment skill. A negative correlation between student‐estimated mark and a surface approach suggested that students are sensitive to the demand characteristics of assessments and are aware of how these correspond to their preferred learning style. Both strategic and deep approaches to learning correlated positively with tutor mark, as is commonly reported.

It is suggested that the study provides some insight into the composition of self‐assessment skill and implications for pedagogical practice are considered.

This paper presents the phenomenographic analysis of students' approaches to learning in the first year architectural design coursework; thereby correlating contextualization in the architectural curriculum.

This paper reviews phenomenographic data of first year architecture students' learning experience through a comparative analysis of first- and fourth-year students' approaches to learning in the design studio; further co-relating this analysis to the final classification involving all five years of students' learning approaches in the architecture program.

Five meta-categories of the comparative analysis and nineteen meta-categories of the final classification are evaluated using first-year students' learning approaches – to understand the importance of contextualization in curriculums of architecture.

This phenomenographic analysis of first-year students' learning experience represents the onward journey from surface-to-deep approaches to learning that is encountered in their learning approaches, pertaining to the design process in the design coursework during five years of architectural education.

This paper systematically extends the discussion of first year architecture students' engagement in the design process that leads to deep learning; further delving into the static dimension of knowledge and its extension to the dynamic dimension of knowing architecture.

This study aims to identify the effect of the Quranic approach on understanding Islamic accounting among accounting students.

This study used an experimental field design with pre- and post-test involving 107 participants. Based on the self-determination theory, this study explores the role of Quranic involvement in Islamic accounting instructional design to improve learning outcomes. This study used a comparative analysis of an independent sample of the approach (Quranic vs technical learning) in instructional design (mathematics vs conventional).

This study proves that Islamic accounting learning outcomes differ between the Quranic and technical learning approaches. The Quranic approach provides better learning outcomes based on post-test scores. This difference is consistent in both conventional and mathematical instructional designs.

First, this study is limited to the alleged role of the Quranic approach in participants' intrinsic motivation. Further studies can explore how and what part of participants' intrinsic motivation is affected by the Quranic approach. Second, this research is limited to the basics of Islamic accounting. Further studies can explore the role of the Quranic approach in understanding Islamic accounting transactions with higher complexity.

This study can be used to develop Islamic accounting instructional designs using a Quranic approach.

This study provides empirical evidence on the Quranic approach's role in improving learning outcomes. This study also fills in the scarcity of research on Islamic accounting teaching.

The globalisation of higher education has created new challenges for educators to remain dynamic in teaching science undergraduates with diverse cultural backgrounds. The current study explores this challenge by evaluating the different personal factors among biosciences and pharmacy undergraduates that affect their learning approaches as well as to identify course-specific teaching approaches in order to determine their impacts on students' learning.

A cross-sectional survey design based on study process questionnaire (SPQ), and approaches and study skills inventory for students (ASSIST) was utilised to collect quantitative data from 129 biosciences and pharmacy undergraduates.

Biosciences undergraduates adopted deep and achieving learning approaches as they progressed through the curriculum, whilst surface learners dominated the pharmacy course. Ethnicity was shown to affect the learning approaches among the undergraduates. Although male undergraduates from both courses were more competitive than the female, elder female undergraduates tend to adopt deep learning approach. Pre-university qualifications did not significantly influence the undergraduate's learning approach. The contrasting finding on the preferred teaching approaches between biosciences and pharmacy undergraduates has highlighted the importance of providing tailored teaching and learning strategies to cater different students' learning needs.

This study has demonstrated the combinational use of SPQ and ASSIST instruments to compare undergraduate's learning approaches with preferred teaching approaches. The current finding could support the development of teaching and learning practice among the biosciences and pharmacy undergraduates with multicultural background.

Simulation-based optimisation (SO) is a popular optimisation approach for building and civil engineering construction planning. However, in the framework of SO, the simulation is continuously invoked during the optimisation trajectory, which increases the computational loads to levels unrealistic for timely construction decisions. Modification on the optimisation settings such as reducing searching ability is a popular method to address this challenge, but the quality measurement of the obtained optimal decisions, also termed as optimisation quality, is also reduced by this setting. Therefore, this study aims to develop an optimisation approach for construction planning that reduces the high computational loads of SO and provides reliable optimisation quality simultaneously.

This study proposes the optimisation approach by modifying the SO framework through establishing an embedded connection between simulation and optimisation technologies. This approach reduces the computational loads and ensures the optimisation quality associated with the conventional SO approach by accurately learning the knowledge from construction simulations using embedded ensemble learning algorithms, which automatically provides efficient and reliable fitness evaluations for optimisation iterations.

A large-scale project application shows that the proposed approach was able to reduce computational loads of SO by approximately 90%. Meanwhile, the proposed approach outperformed SO in terms of optimisation quality when the optimisation has limited searching ability.

The core contribution of this research is to provide an innovative method that improves efficiency and ensures effectiveness, simultaneously, of the well-known SO approach in construction applications. The proposed method is an alternative approach to SO that can run on standard computing platforms and support nearly real-time construction on-site decision-making.

This paper seeks to review current approaches to learning from health and safety incidents in the workplace. The aim of the paper is to identify the diversity of approaches and analyse them in terms of learning aspects.

A literature review was conducted searching for terms incident/accident/near misses/disaster/crisis modified with learning/training and safety. Shortlisted articles were analysed by questioning who is learning, what kind of learning process is undertaken, what type of knowledge is employed and the type of problem that these incidents addressed. Current approaches to learning from incidents were critically analysed and gaps identified.

Very few papers addressed all the envisaged aspects when developing their learning from incidents approaches. With support from literature, it was concluded that all the four perspectives, namely participants of learning (participation and inclusion), learning process (single loop, double learning), type of incident and its relation to learning (Cynefin complexity framework) and types of knowledge (conceptual, procedural, dispositional and locative) are important when deciding on an appropriate learning from incidents approach.

The literature review focused on journal articles and identified keywords, which might have narrowed the scope. Further research is needed in identifying ways to embed the learning from incidents aspects in the organisation.

The framework developed could be useful by safety planners, safety managers, human resource managers and researchers in the area of organisational learning and safety.

The paper concludes by outlining key questions and proposing a framework that could be useful in systematically analysing and indentifying effective approaches to learning from incidents.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of personal values on students’ learning behaviours. Hong Kong construction students are often criticized, by both practitioners and educators, as rote learners. To improve students’ learning processes, extensive research on a variety of aspects of construction education has been conducted. However, limited attention has been paid to the influence of personal values on students’ learning behaviours. The impact of personal value factors on the learning approaches of Chinese construction students in Hong Kong is investigated.

A questionnaire survey was conducted to ethically Chinese construction students in four universities in Hong Kong. A total of 820 questionnaires were distributed and 431 valid returns were collected.

The survey identified six influential values (namely, personal integrity, conservatism, determination, discipline, interpersonal relationships, and achievement), and shows that students who emphasize the virtues of personal integrity, determination, and a positive attitude toward achievement are better able to handle their interpersonal relationships, which will eventually lead them to engage in deep learning.

Work to develop appropriate value systems is thus recommended in freshmen courses, as is the use of cooperative learning approaches. Such value systems will have a long-term influence on the learning approaches of construction students.

There is a substantial body of empirical literature on university students' self‐perceived approaches to learning, but evidence on instructors' perceptions of the way they facilitate their students' learning approaches is less evident. This study aims to investigate the extent of the gap between students' learning approaches and instructors' teaching orientations towards facilitating these approaches. The subsequent employability of accounting graduates depends in part on the nature and extent of this gap. Student learning approaches are measured on two dimensions ‐ deep and strategic approaches ‐ drawn from Tait's and Entwistle's (1995) Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI). Instructors' facilitation of students' learning is measured by a re‐orientation of the same RASI instrument towards teaching approaches. The results reveal several significant differences of emphasis between instructors and students in terms of deep and strategic approaches. Students are falling short of what their instructors believe they are facilitating in terms of the development of their employability competencies and characteristics for a professional career. When students are grouped according to gender, further significant differences are found. Implications of these findings for future change in accounting education are discussed.