Findings from the research project Horizon on "Student-centered learning approaches in teaching and engineering education - characteristics and challenges" (in English)

1. Student-centered learning approaches
in teaching and engineering education
Characteristics and challenges
ExCid seminar ‘Søkelys på kvalitet i høyere utdanning’
Oslo, September 27, 2016
Crina Damşa & Monika Nerland
Department of Education

2. Learning in professional HE programs
Complex challenges (for study programs and
students)
 To prepare for engaging in complex knowledge
work
 To become familiar with knowledge and
practices characteristic to their prospective
profession

3. Student-centred pedagogical approaches
• Problem-based learning, Case-based learning, Project-based
learning, Inquiry-based learning, Research-based learning
Inquiry learning
within the knowledge domains
Understanding of core concepts of the
domain
Gathering, analyzing, assessing, sharing, …
domain-specific knowledge
Identifying problems specific to the domain
Problematizing, negotiating, arguing
Mastering techniques, strategies specific to
knowledge domains
…
‘Generic
skills/competencies’
Critical thinking/critical
analysis
Solving complex
problems
(Generating
knowledge/products)
…
(Aditomo et al., 2013; Damsa et al., 2015)

4. Knowledge and practices in two knowledge domains
• Teaching domain
• Strong reliance on individual practice and experiences
• Resources situated locally, ‘closed’ knowledge pools
• Knowledge-based practices
(Eilam and Poyas 2009; White et al. 2015)
• Computer Engineering domain
• Structure, standardized procedures by the community
• Access to widely available online resources, collectively
shared technologies
(Litzinger et al. 2011; Nerland and Jensen 2014)

5. Focus of this study
How students learn through
inquiry activities and work with inquiry tasks
connected to their prospective
knowledge domains?

6. Learning activities and tasks
Introductory course
inlearning & teaching
theories and practice
Introductory course in web
design and development
Course set-up
• Lectures,
seminars
• Collaborative
case analysis
• Use of learning
theories
• Case analysis
report
• Academic writing
• Textbook
Course set-up
• Lectures, labs
• Collaborative
projects: Product
development
• Use of
programming
languages
• Webpage +
technical report
• Online resources
TEACHER EDUCATION
COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Collaborative
inquiry tasks
• Identifying and solving
a problem
• Finding (re)sources
• Critically analyzing
and processing
(source) knowledge
• Generating
explanations/solutions
• Using strategies for
collaborative work

7. Analysis focus
How inquiry works
What students make
Challenges
What matters
What students do/say
What knowledge they use
and/or construct
How knowledge practice is
understood
Data:
Video-taped group
discussions
Group interviews
Products
Resources
Course materials

8. Participation in inquiry in the TE domain
• Type of problems addressed
• Understanding of theoretical knowledge; Theory-informed
explanations
• Inquiry task and process
• Explorative attempts to explain problems
• Personal experiences as departure point for understanding
• Frequent division of labor/individual work
• Resources used
• Textbook, lecture notes; Locally-bound, in close relation to the
study program
Key point: Engaging in inquiry within a domain
characterized by weakly structured resources and
experience-based practices

9. Participation in inquiry in the CE domain
• Type of problems addressed
• Learning/mastering standard programming strategies
• Inquiry task and process
• Creating a vision of the product
• Replicating programming strategies used by professionals
• Collaborative (team-based) approach to programming
• Resources used
• Online, expert; Globally distributed, external to the program
Key point: Understanding and applying the principles of
programming in a domain characterized by many but
‘black-boxed’ resources

10. What matters: framing learning through inquiry
• Arriving to understanding complex knowledge and
practice - not a straightforward matter
• Raising above personal experiences and practice-
based knowledge
 Guiding structures for inquiry
 Guided exploration of theoretical knowledge
 Supporting ways to generate meaning/knowledge/
solutions as a way of learning
 Eliciting joint work
 Meaningful activities through inquiry – the need for
mindful pedagogical design

11. What matters:
framing learning within the knowledge domains
• Domain-specific knowledge and practice
• Provides examples of ways to work with knowledge
• Mediates learning with profession-specific tools (resources,
methods, strategies)
(Very different underlying principles and practices in each domain)
 Embedding student’s learning in dynamic knowledge
practices
 Making the socio-material resources an asset for learning
 Offering space for developing the required knowledge and
skills – within the knowledge domain context

12. Publications of interest

13. References
•Aditomo, A., Goodyear, P., Bliuc, A-M., & Ellis R., (2013). Inquiry-based learning in higher education: principal forms,
educational objectives, and disciplinary variations, Studies in Higher Education, 38:9, 1239-1258, DOI:
10.1080/03075079.2011.616584
•Damşa, C. I., de Lange, T., Elken, M., Esterhazy, R., Fossland, T., Frølich, N., Hovdhaugen, E., Maassen, P., Nerland, M.,
Nordkvelle, Y. T.., Stensaker, B., Tømte, C.E., Vabø, A., Wiers-Jenssen, J., & Aamodt, P. O. (2015). Quality in Norwegian Higher
Education: A review of research on aspects affecting student learning. Technical report, Nordic Institute for Studies in
Innovation, Research and Education, ISBN 978-82-327-0145-2.
•Damşa, C. I., & Ludvigsen, S. R. (2016). Learning through Interaction and Co-construction of Knowledge Objects in Teacher
Education, Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, DOI: 10.1016/j.lcsi.2016.03.001
•Damşa, C.I. & Nerland, M. (2016). Student learning through participation in inquiry activities. Two cases from teaching and
computer engineering education, Vocations and Learning, DOI: 10.1007/s12186-016-9152-9
•Eilam, B. & Poyas, Y. (2009). Learning to teach: enhancing pre-service teachers' awareness of the complexity of teaching-
learning processes. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice 15 (1), 87–107.
•Nerland, M. & Jensen, K. (2014) Changing Cultures of Knowledge and Professional Learning. International Handbook of
Research in Professional and Practice-based Learning, edited by S. Billett, C. Harteis & H. Gruber, pp. 611 - 640 . Dordrecht:
Springer.
•Knorr Cetina, K. (1999). Epistemic cultures. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
•Knorr Cetina, K. (2001). Objectual practice. In T. R. Schatzki, K. Knorr Cetina, & E. von Savigny (Eds.), The practice turn in
contemporary theory (pp. 175–188). London, England: Routledge.
•Litzinger, T. & Lattuca, L. (2014). Translating research to widespread practice in engineering education. In A. Johri & B. M. Olds
(Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research (pp. 375–392). New York: Cambridge University Press.
•White, S., Hepple, E., Tangen, D., Comelli, M., Alwi, A., & Abu Hassan Shaari, Z. (2016). An introduction to education research
methods: exploring the learning journey of pre-service teachers in a transnational programme. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher
Education, 44(1), 35-48. doi:10.1080/1359866X.2015.1021294

14. Thank you!
crina.damsa@iped.uio.no