How to Maximize Your Learning and Improve Your Academic Performance

Issues Related to Learning

General Complaints From Students

• Course is too theoretical and has no practical information for me to apply
• Why can't the instructor just give me step-by-step instruction on what to do instead of all the theory, theorems, and proofs
• I can't just learn from the lecture, but I need some hands-on experiments or something tangible to understand the material
• The instructor never talks at our level, but talks down to us and we need something more in depth
• I understand the material but I don't do well in exams
• The problems asked in the exam don't look like anything we saw in the class or in the homework
• I took the prerequisite courses so long ago and I don't remember that material now
• It is all the instructor's fault that I am not doing well in this course
• I want the instructor tell me everything I have to know in the class so that I don't have to do anything on my own outside the class room
• I have a full time job or other commitments and so I don't have the time to study

Finding Solutions to Learning Difficulties

• Some of the mentioned complaints have merit and some don’t
• Stop the blame game and take responsibility for your learning
• Understand the learning process and analyze how you learn
• Analyze the strengths and weaknesses related to your learning
• Develop the right attitude, and the aptitude will follow
• Teachers can only show you some guidelines and it is up to you to learn
• Understand that learning is "a process of self-discovery"
• Understand that there are different learning styles and also different teaching styles
• Understand that some material is conducive to certain style of teaching and certain style of learning
• Identify what works best for you and make the best of what the teacher has to offer

Different Learning Styles (Felder, 1988)

1. How students perceive information

• Sensory (external) - sights, sounds, physical sensations
• Intuitive (internal) - possibilities, insights, hunches

2. Input mechanism through which information is perceived

• Visual - pictures, diagrams, schematics, demonstrations
• Auditory - sounds, words, lectures

3. Which organization of information is comfortable to students?

• Inductive - facts and observations are given and underlying principles are inferred; go from the specific to the general
• Deductive - underlying principle are given, consequences and applications are deduced; go from the general to the specific

4. How students process information?

• Active - through engagement in discussion and physical activity
• Passive - through introspection

5. How does the student progress toward understanding?

• Sequential - in continual steps, one after the other
• Global - in large jumps, looking at the big picture

Similar to different learning styles there are also different teaching styles

Different Teaching Styles

1. What type of information is emphasized by the instructor?

• Concrete - factual information
• Abstract - Conceptual, theoretical

2. What mode of presentation is stressed?

• Visual - pictures, films, diagrams, demonstrations
• Verbal - lectures, words, sounds, discussions

3. How is the presentation organized?

• Inductive - phenomena leading to principles
• Deductive - principles leading to phenomena

4. What mode of student participation is facilitated by presentation?

• Active - students talk, move, question
• Passive - Students watch and listen

5. What type of perspective is provided on the information presented?

• Sequential - step-by-step progression of the material
• Global - context and relevance to the material learned

There are no right or wrong learning styles or teaching styles!

Problems occur when there is a mismatch between teaching and learning styles

• Most (engineering) teachers teach deductively
• Most (engineering) undergraduate students are inductive learners
• Most engineering courses use primarily lectures and reading to transmit information and so favor intuitive learners
• Most teachers are intuitors but a majority of the students are sensors
• Most students prefer visual cues but most instructors prefer lecturing
• Most engineering classes are passive and not active, but students prefer an active environment
• Most undergraduate students prefer sequential steps to learning, but most instructors think and teach globally
• Students must understand their preferred learning style, maximize it, and try to fill in the weak spots in their learning process
• Teachers must understand their preferred teaching style and learn to accommodate students' different learning styles

The Learning Process

Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain (Bloom, 1957)

1. Knowledge - facts, terminology, basics
2. Comprehension - translation, extrapolation, interpretation of facts
3. Application - applying the knowledge comprehended correctly to solve problems
4. Analysis - ability to analyze the application of knowledge comprehended
5. Synthesis - putting together elements and parts to form a whole new knowledge
6. Evaluation - making judgments about the value of ideas, solutions synthesized

Issues Related to the Learning Process

• To fully learn something, you should undergo all the six steps mentioned above
• Most often in a freshman or sophomore courses only the first 2 steps may be experienced
• In a junior or senior level courses the next two steps may be experienced
• So, it is understandable if you feel you haven’t mastered the subjects taught in the undergraduate courses

Learning and Teaching Through the Cycle

Kolb's Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984)

Kolb has developed a learning model based on the different learning styles and has identified four types of learners as shown below:

1. Divergers (Type 1 learners) WHY?
2. Assimilators (Type 2 learners) WHAT?
3. Convergers (Type 3 learners) HOW?
4. Accommodators (Type 4 learners) WHAT IF?

WHY? - Why do we have to learn something?

• Motivation for learning something
• Meaning and a sense of purpose
• Foundational issues
• The big picture
• Goals and Objectives
• Learning and Teaching Through the Cycle

WHAT? - What information do I need to know?

• Presentation and organization of material
• Opportunities for processing information
• This is the quadrant most engineering instructors focus on

HOW? - How does this work? or How do I solve the problems?

• Provide opportunities for applying the material learned
• Develop problem solving skills
• Hands-on experiments
• Most engineering students focus on this quadrant

WHAT IF? - What if the problems were different?

• Provide opportunities for applying the concepts learned to solve different problems
• Provide opportunities for self-discovery
• Provide opportunities for sharing discoveries
• Evaluate performance

Where do undergraduate engineering students fit in?

Claxton and Ralston (1978) have showed that:

• 10% of undergraduate engineering students are Type 1 learners
• 40% are Type 2 learners
• 30% are Type 3 learners
• 20% are Type 4 learners

Claxton and Ralston (1978) have showed that similar to students’ learning styles teachers also have different teaching styles:

• Type 1 teachers focus on the personal development of students and tend to be highly motivational and have good relationship with their students
• Type 2 teachers focus primarily on the transmission of knowledge in a hierarchical manner from teacher to the student
• Type 3 teachers focus on promoting productivity and competence and want their students to acquire the necessary skills and be independent
• Type 4 teachers encourage experiential learning, self-discovery, and are generally stimulating, dramatic, and hope to expand students’ intellectual boundaries

Claxton and Ralston have concluded from their studies that:

• 10% of engineering faculty are Type 1
• 50% are Type 2
• 30% are Type 3
• 10% are Type 4

Model of Development

William Perry's Model of Student Development

1. Dualism

• All knowledge is known and it is a collection of everything
• Right or wrong answers exist for everything
• Teachers are responsible for giving information and students are responsible for reproducing it

2. Early Multiplicity

• There may be more than one right answer
• Knowledge includes methods for solving problems
• Teachers help students learn how to learn
• Students are responsible for understanding and applying knowledge

3. Late Multiplicity

• Diversity of opinions exist
• Uncertainty with respect to knowledge becomes legitimate
• Teachers require evidence to support opinions and design choices
• Students learn how to think and analyze

4. Relativism

• All knowledge must be viewed in context
• Teachers are consultants
• Students can synthesize and evaluate perspectives from different contexts

5. Commitment Within Relativism

• It is accepted that the world is a changing, relativistic place
• The dynamic nature of the problems and the solutions become a way of life

Ask yourself where do you stand?

• Dualism - Till high school
• Early Multiplicity - Freshman and sophomore years
• Late Multiplicity - Junior and senior years
• Relativism - Graduate school, work place
• Commitment within Relativism - Work place

Improving Your Academic Performance

• Understand your preferred learning style
• Determine your strengths and weaknesses in learning
• Understand that no one can make you learn except yourself
• Understand that teachers can only give you guidance and directions, but you have to be responsible for your learning

It is similar to someone teaching you to bike or swim. They can only give you directions, but you have to find the balance to ride a bike or float to swim

• Make use of all the resources available (library, videos, etc.) at NIU
• Don't limit yourself to reading one book on a topic
• Referring to several books gives you different perspectives on how the same material or problems are presented in other forms
• Find books on your course topics prescribed for non-engineering majors (e.g. There are also books on Statistics, Operations research, Production Planning and Control, etc. written for Business students)
• There are resources available at NIU for assisting you with study skills, etc.
• Offer to teach a classmate (to teach someone you have to know more)
• Organize study groups and take turns to teach the group
• Read the course material, close the book, write what you just learned in your own words and then compare it with what is in the book or class notes
• Prepare index cards for important concepts, definitions, methods, etc.
• Try problems on your own. Don't limit yourself to class assignments.
• Meet with your instructors and/or talk to your TA if you couldn’t understand something on your own. Don't wait to see them only when you are in trouble or the day before the exam.
• Ask your instructors what he/she expects from you
• Convey to your instructors what you expect from them (do it professionally)

Recommendations

• Know your preferred learning style
• Maximize on your strengths and try to overcome your limitations
• Learn through the cycle, i.e. accommodate all four quadrants of the cycle
• If the teacher doesn't teach through the cycle, try to fill in the gaps on your own
• Develop the right attitude to learn and the aptitude will follow
• Develop good study habits and time management skills and do not procrastinate
• Be naturally curious about everything you learn
• Participate in extracurricular activities that keep you refreshed
• Understand what your instructors expect from you and convey to your instructors what you expect from them
• Make use of the numerous learning resources available at NIU
• Learn "how to learn" and the rest will come naturally