Improving What is Learned at University: An exploration of the social and organisational diversity of university education

by Brennan; John

• ISBN13: 9780415480161
• ISBN10: 0415480167
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2010-01-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

As higher education has expanded, it has diversified both in terms of its institutional form and the characteristics of its students. However, what we do not know is the extent to which it has also diversified in terms of 'what is learned'. In this book the authors explore this question through the voices of higher education students, using empirical data from students taking 15 different courses at different universities across three subject areas - bioscience, business studies and sociology. The study concentrates on the students' experience, lives, hopes and aspirations while at university, through data from interviews and questionnaires, and this is collated and assessed alongside the perspectives of their teachers and official data from the universities they attend.

Author Biography

John Brennan is Professor: of Higher Education Research and Director of the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information at the UK Open University. Robert Edmunds is a Research Student in Systems Engineering and Human Factors at Cranfield University in the U.K. Muir Houston is Lecturer in Adult and Continuing Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Glasgow, UK. David Jary is Visiting Professor in the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information at the UK Open University. Yann Lebeau is Lecturer in Educational Research in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of East Anglia, UK. Michael Osborne is Professor of Adult and Lifelong Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Glasgow, UK. John T.E. Richardson is Professor of Student Learning and Assessment in the Institute of Educational Technology at the UK Open University.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xi
	p. 1
Commonalities and diversities of UK universities	p. 3
The social and organisational mediation of university learning	p. 17
	p. 31
The universities: cultures, organisations and reputations	p. 33
The subjects: tribes and territories	p. 55
The students: backgrounds, lifestyles and forms of engagement	p. 92
What students learned at university	p. 119
What else students learned at university	p. 135
Diversities and commonalities in the student experience	p. 157
	p. 169
Implications for institutions, academic staff and students	p. 171
Implications for society	p. 193
Appendix: methods used in the study	p. 202
Bibliography	p. 227
Index	p. 237
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