Dear alan

Many thanks for your email and the clarification. I very much agree with the
point you make and in recent years I have become very aware of what appears to
be a  widening gap between learning experiences in schools (and to a lesser
extent colleges) and what we expect (ideally) at university. Perhaps it can
best be summarised as 'dependent' versus 'independent' learning. As you will
have seen in my email on team teaching I have also drawn attention to tendency
for schools to 'spoon feed'.

At Sheffield Hallam, there are considerable differences of view as to the best
way of facilitating the transition from 'dependent' to 'independent' learning.
Some favour what could be described as the 'big bang' approach (with an
acceptance that there will be casualties) while others, myself included, favour
a more gradualist approach with a considerable amount of support in the early
stages (with an acceptance that this might result in some students never
becoming truly independent). As indicated, both have their drawbacks.

Best wishes.

Roger

[log in to unmask] writes:
>Roger,
>
>Thanks for your encouragement, shared views and
>Sorry for the rather cryptic nature of the last part. What I meant 
>here is that there is growing concern, particularly in science and 
>engineering arenas, that good A-level grades do not necessarily 
>translate into well prepared freshers. We are finding some horrific 
>gaps in mathematics knowledge and it does appear that school 
>league tables encourage 'learning by assessment drilling' with lots of 
>sample tests becoming the main learning vehicle. This in turn 
>produces a spoon fed student who is not ready for university life, 
>student-centred learning activities and deeper thinking about the 
>meanings behind the subjectmatter. My comments were meant to 
>imply that students leaving university (certainly from vocational 
>courses like many of ours) are much better prepared for 
>employment than school leavers are for university. I guess this is 
>one of those issues where I have fairly strong views but engineering 
>has the added difficulty that many students seem to pe put off 
>mathematics (and physics, often) at GCSE stage. We have 
>employers crying out for honours engineering graduates but we 
>work quite hard to make our numbers. I hope this is helpful and 
>possibly a useful trigger to associate the modularity topic with 
>second level education where it has made its mark.
>
>One other point is that our experience in relation to choice and the 
>notion of a grand credit accumulation and transfer (CAT) 
>environment suggests that vocational courses tend to restrict choice, 
>notwithstanding the plethora of modules that can emerge. We 
>certainly have no courses with a 'supermarket trolley flavour' in 
>engineering although we are keen to increase choice for final year 
>students.
>
>Regards
>Alan Webb
>Dr J A C Webb,
>Senior Lecturer, 
>School of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering,
>Coordinator of Student Learning,
>Faculty of Engineering.
>
>Tel. 028 90365131 Ext. 6696, Personal Direct: 028 90366696
>Fax. Ext.6804  EMail:
>Secretaries: 6276/6091




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