Sunday, October 21, 2007

Assignment # 6 Annotation

Richardson, J.(2006). Investigating the relationship between variations in students' perceptions of their academic environment and variations in study behavior in distance education. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 867-893



Review:


Intent of the study:

Recent research on student learning in higher education has identified relationships between the changes in students' perceptions of their academic environment and changes in their study behavior. This particular research investigated a general theoretical model linking students' demographic characteristics, perceptions and study behavior with measures of outcome and specifically compared four accounts of the relationship between perceptions and study behavior in relevance to distance learning.





Methodology:

Path analysis was used to assess the relationship between students' ages, gender, and prior qualifications, their scores on Course Experience Questionnaire, their scores on a short version of the Approaches to studying Inventory or the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory, their overall marks, and their rating of general satisfaction.



Important findings:

Both studies showed evidence for the fundamental efficacy of all the paths identified in the general theoretical model. The conclusion was that there exist a bi-directional causal relationship between variations in students' perceptions of their academic environment and variations in their study behavior.



Relevance:


Interview-based research indicated that students in higher education may adopt different approaches to studying, depending on their perceptions of the content, the context and the demands of specific academic situations. The main theoretical conclusion form this investigation is that there exists a bi-directional causal relationship between students' perceptions of the academic environment and variations in their study behavior. This is relevant to distance learning in that the environment in which you learn from does not necessarily affect your overall outcome, but it is your perception of the learning that adjust your study behavior.





Michele Russell

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