TY  - UNPB
N1  - Unpublished
EP  - 347
AV  - public
Y1  - 2017/03/28/
TI  - Qualitatively Different Ways of Experiencing Learning: A Phenomenographic Investigation of International Economics and Trade Undergraduates? Conceptions of Learning in a Chinese-Australian Cooperative Programme
A1  - Zhao, X
M1  - Doctoral
UR  - https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1544347/
PB  - UCL (University College London)
ID  - discovery1544347
N2  - This study investigates International Economics and Trade (IET) undergraduates?
conceptions of learning in a programme cooperatively run by a Chinese and an
Australian university.
Programmes jointly run by Chinese and foreign universities are increasingly common,
as a means to attain greater internationalisation of higher education in mainland China.
While higher education internationalisation research in China has been dominated by a
focus on policy making, strategic planning and institutional management, the student?s
learning experience remains relatively unexplored. The way in which a learner
experiences or understands learning may significantly influence their way of engaging
with learning in universities (Marton & Booth, 1997) and the subsequent quality of
learning outcomes (Biggs & Tang, 2007). Therefore, the study aims to reveal the
undergraduates? qualitatively different ways of learning or conceptions of learning
(Marton & Booth, 1997), in a Chinese-Australian cooperative programme.
The research methodology adopted is phenomenography, a qualitative approach which
has been often used to elicit and describe the limited number of qualitatively different
ways people experience or understand some phenomena or aspects of a phenomenon
around them. Data is collected through semi-structured interviews with a group of
undergraduates and analysed following the phenomenographic principles to identify
the referential and structural aspects of each conception. Ultimately seven main
conceptions of learning and four sub-conceptions are identified. Generally speaking,
the relationship between conceptions found is hierarchical, but the sub-conceptions or
branches are also notable.
The study not only expands the research context of phenomenography, but also
contributes to the understanding of Chinese undergraduates? conceptions of learning
in a cross-cultural teaching and learning context. Given the close relationship between
ways of experiencing or understanding learning and learning approaches, and
consequently the quality of learning, the implications of the outcomes of this research
for the improvement of learning and teaching in such programmes are explored.
ER  -