PART 1 (4'20")
- 1. Learning ((( Student Perspective ))):
Meet Susan, Susan is a 23-year old Computer Science student at the university.
Today she has a Semantics lecture which she is really excited about.
Susan likes to get to the bottom of things; to reach understanding...
((( Hallelujah! )))
She often reflects on possibilities, implications, applications, and consequences of what she is learning.
Susan is characterized by a preference for deep learning. She spontaneously uses higher cognitive processes. Faced with a curriculum, she basically teaches herself. In fact, we almost cannot prevent her from learning.
But she is not our concern today, Robert on the other hand is...
Now where is Robert?
Ahhh, there he is.
Robert is also a Homo Sapiens, same age, also a student of Computer Science, and also has the Semantics lecture today. However, Robert is a different type of student. His goal is not to achieve understanding. In fact, Robert doesn't really care about the learning in itself. His goal at university is different; his goal is to get a piece of paper and a hand-shake from an important man with gray hair. To pass exams, get a degree, and get a decent job.
Robert is characterized by a preference for surface learning. He will only use higher cognitive processes if he really really really has to. He will cut any corner in achieving his goal with minimum effort.
((( teacher lecturing )))
Let's have a look inside the auditorium to see how Susan and Robert are doing. Let's look a little closer.
Hmmm - this is interesting...!
Now let's have a look at Robert.
Uhhh - when is the break...!
Here you might think that Robert is the only one to blame; that he is the only one responsible for his mediocre gain from the teaching. But Robert just has a different goal than Susan; he's merely responding to a system.
The statistics also carry an important message - and suggest a different course of action.
20 or 30 years ago, there were mostly Susans at the universities. Nowadays, however, as student intake has increased dramatically, the Roberts now outnumber the Susans. This makes for a considerable problem which is important to tackle - for any responsible society. But before we deal with it (Robert's learning, that is), we need to take a look at the situation from a different perspective.
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