Student Learning Research: Retrospect and Prospect

ABSTRACT This article reviews some salient findings of recent research into how higher education students learn. The defining features of the research examined here are its emphasis on idipgraphic explanation and its concern with realistic learning activities. Examples of investigations into approaches to learning, outcome space, learning styles, orientations to learning, conceptions of learning, and the context of learning in higher education are provided. Against this background, five main areas for future development are outlined: the theory of study process; the conditions for deep approaches to learning; transition, progress, and persistence; studies of everyday learning; and action research into the content and context of learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of certain problems in relating the research findings to practice.

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