Browsing by Subject "university"

Aims. The purpose of this qualitative study was to systematically analyze how university teaching and learning vary in one Finnish university. My research questions were "How do students' approaches to learning vary?" and "How do teachers' approaches to teaching vary?" In this systematic review, I used the relational model of learning and teaching in universities as a theoretical framework. This model provides a tool to analyze the variation in students' approaches to learning and teachers' approaches to teaching in different teaching-learning environments. The quality of what students learn is linked to the variation in how students learn and how university teachers teach in teaching-learning environments in universities. The quality of learning and teaching is also connected with the allocation of resources and funding in universities and global university rankings. Methods. By using the method of systematic review, I analyzed the variation in teaching and learning in a data sample of 23 high-quality peer-reviewed academic articles. The research context of the studies, which concerned teaching and learning in universities, was the University of Helsinki. Results and conclusions. In this review, students' learning varies mainly in how the students approach their learning (i.e. as surface or deep approaches to learning). Students' learning is modified by the students' learning strategies (e.g. as systematic or critical studies), study orientations (i.e. reproduction- or meaning-oriented learning), and study orchestrations (i.e. different profiles of approaches to learning). Teaching varies mainly in how the teachers approach their teaching (i.e. as teacher- or student-focused approaches to teaching). Teaching is modified by the teachers' conceptions of teaching, teaching strategies (i.e. content- or learning-focused approaches to teaching), and amounts of pedagogical training (that affect the approaches to teaching). Both learning and teaching vary in different teaching-learning environments (both within courses and between disciplines). Both students' and teachers' conceptions of knowledge (e.g. as integrated or fragmented knowledge; declarative or procedural knowledge) affect their approaches to learning and teaching. This systematic review synthesizes what we know about learning and teaching in one university in Finland. This knowledge provides guidelines on how the quality of learning and teaching can be improved both in policy and practice largely in universities in Finland. Essentially, learning is based on good teaching that is focused on the students' learning.