Conditions for a deep learning approach

6.2.1. Intrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation is considered one of the most important factors stimulating deep learning. Students need to perceive a learning task as something meaningful for themselves and to feel personally involved in it (Ramsden, 1992; Laurillard, 2002). During group discussions this emerged very clearly from my students, who expressed their need to understand the “meaning” of what they were required to learn.

According to many authors (Orr, 2001; Fosmire and Macklin, 2002; Grafstein, 2002;

Raquepeau and Richards, 2002; Carder, 2003) IL educational activities appear more meaningful and effective if connected to subject learning, rather than when developed as separated. Integrating IL and subject contents facilitates students’ engagement in active learning (Bowden and DiBenedetto, 2001). Following Orr (2001) IL does not have a life of its own, rather it is a way of thinking and reflecting about aspects of subject matter.

IL skills therefore, cannot be developed in isolation, and learning activities should be structured in such a way that

Enquiry is the norm, problem solving become the focus and critical thinking is part of the process (Orr, 2001)

Also Bruce (2001) states that IL cannot take place “in a vacuum” since it develops within the context of an understanding of the research concerns in particular disciplines.

I therefore chose to “embed” the contents of the learning activity into the Ecology course, which is one of the most important subjects for Environmental Sciences students. From group discussions appeared that students were enthusiastic with this subject, perceived as

the core of the degree curriculum and the most strictly related to their future profession.

Moreover, students had just sat the first part of the exam and were going to start the second part of the course. Relating the IL activity with this important part of student curriculum was likely to have the following advantages:

• students just mastered a basic knowledge of the subject contents, which is crucial to put the activity in a meaningful context, fostering the application of critical thinking (Webber and Johnston, 2000);

• through the IL activity students were offered the opportunity to deepen one of their favourite subjects, which was expressed as a need during focus groups; this opportunity should stimulate their interest and favour their commitment.

• the IL activity was likely to appear functional to Ecological research and therefore

“meaningful”, favouring students’ involvement and active participation.

The learning plan was developed in co-operation with the Ecology teacher. Contents, activities and assessment methods were defined in relation to the Ecology course.

Moreover, the time and length of the seminar (one full-immersion week from 4 to 8 October, 20 hours of class activity and about 15 hours of group and individual activity) were defined together with the faculty staff, as to allow students concentrate themselves on this activity before the first term started (15 October). The IL Seminar appears therefore as an introductory activity to the second part of the Ecology course.

6.2.2. Lack of anxiety

Lack of anxiety is another important factor favouring a deep learning approach. The importance of emotional aspects of learning has been underlined by Bruner (1989), Kelly (1955) and Vygotski (2000).

Factors that can increase students’ anxiety in educational contexts are

• the excessive amount of contents to be learned,

• the lack of clear goals

• uncertainty about assessment methods.

During the observing stage of this enquiry, the problem of anxiety had emerged as a crucial element in students’ experience of learning. It appeared strictly related to the lack

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of time and the overwhelming amount of learning contents. I felt a particular responsibility for this aspect, since, reflecting on the previous IL activity, I identified just in the excessive amount of contents one of the possible cause for students’ unsatisfactory learning outcomes. The goal of providing students with a great amount of instructions about the use of all available search tools, had probably led librarians to overload students with too many contents, causing anxiety and confusion.

The importance of the emotional aspect of the instructional process is that it addresses students’ motivations, their involvement in learning process, their experience of discovery and their feelings. Learning depends in part upon teachers’ ability to establish a receptive attitude and an emotional response within students (Volet, 1997; Vidmar, 1998). It is therefore teacher’s responsibility to take in account students’ feelings since they affect in a decisive way their learning (Conteh-Morgan, 2002).

In the field of IL, Kuhlthau has put particular attention to this aspect: in her six–stages model of the research process, the stages of task initiation and pre-focus exploration are those generating anxiety and uncertainty in students, who do not know enough about their research topic to formulate a thesis and to define a focus. These phases are the “zones of intervention”, following Vygotsky educational theory, where the teacher/librarian must support students in their arduous and sometimes frustrating process of research.

Librarians usually tend to ignore the uncertainty affecting students during the starting phases of the research, since

The bibliographic paradigm is based on certainty and order, whereas the users’ process of constructing meaning is characterised by uncertainty and confusion (Kuhlthau, 1993).

Such initial uncertainty is an integral part of the research process and, according to Kuhlthau, students should be helped to recognise and accept it, as

to acknowledge common experiences of uncertainty in the early steps of the research process helps students become aware of their own process of learning (Kuhlthau, 1993).

In designing the learning activity I tried to ensure that students would not be affected by the anxiety produced by excessive amount of contents, or uncertainty about goals and assessment methods, but, at the same time, I took in account that the anxiety originated by uncertainty in the first research stages would be unavoidable, and that it should be presented to students as a feeling shared by everybody involved in a research process. I

therefore tried to create a blame-safe learning environment, where students could deal with this kind of anxiety in an aware and confident way (Mann, 2001).

6.2.3. Perception of relevance

Deep learning approaches are also encouraged by the perception of the relevance of the subject being taught, in relation to one’s own existing competence. Passing from a stage of

“unconscious incompetence” to a stage of “conscious incompetence” is a needed, even if sometimes painful step towards personal commitment and responsibility in a study context.

Students must recognise their lack of competence and, overcoming their frustration and feeling of inadequacy, they must decide to engage themselves in learning, as a response to a recognised and accepted learning need.

One of the problems emerged from the previous IL teaching experience was just the unawareness of students about their level of competence before and after the activity. This could have hindered students’ disposition to learning. Also in the literature the problem of students’ perception of skills and self assessment is treated as a crucial one in relation to deep learning. Holman (1995) states that there is much that is tacit about the process of skills development, and Lucas et al. (2004), in a study focusing on the meaning of skills for students, concluded that students need to be provided with activities stimulating them to reflect on how new skills have been developed and on how students themselves experience their own learning.

Self awareness and self assessment require that students are engaged in reflection as part of their learning activity. I was convinced that one of the most important success factors for the seminar was encouraging students to reflect on their existing knowledge and skills and therefore to assess and recognise their learning needs, thus facing new tasks in a conscious and proactive way.