http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
Researching student learning in higher education
1 online resource (xii, 155 pages) : illustrations
"Many contemporary concerns in higher education focus on the student experience of learning, battling with the dual concerns of a larger and much more diverse intake than ever before and the limitation of funding; questions are being asked afresh around the purposes of higher education. As much as the central questions in higher education focus on student enrolment in programmes, student retention, progression and success, graduate fitness for work, the actual student tends to be absent in so much of this rhetoric and even scholarly literature. The central questions are then of grading, selection, conversion and efficiency but these analyses have not really yielded much apart from providing some indication that the system is hugely inefficient. This book turns this conversation on its head, by inserting a full consideration of student participation into the context of higher education. Working sociologically, it explores the influence of the social context on what the individual student achieves. It utilises a social realist approach to researching student learning, illustrating its potential value by a detailed exploration of student learning within one particular discipline: engineering education "--
Part I Setting the scene; 1 Contemporary challenges in higher education; 2 Researching student learning: accounting for structure and agency; Part II Building a theoretical framework; 3 Critical realism as philosophical foundation; 4 Realist social theory: Archer's morphogenetic approach; 5 A social realist perspective on knowledge and curriculum; 6 Conceptualising student agency.
Part III Developing a case study in engineering education; 7 Geographical context for the study: locating UCT chemical engineering; 8 Disciplinary context for the study: locating engineering education; 9 Choosing engineering; 10 Studying engineering: defining your project; 11 Studying engineering: engaging with others; 12 Studying engineering: the knowledge project; 13 Conclusions for the case study; Part IV Drawing the strands together; 14 A social realist approach to research on student learning; Bibliography; Index.
Researching student learning in higher education: A social realist approach