Christie, H., Tett, L., Cree, V.E., Hounsell, J., and McCune, V. (2007)
‘ A real rollercoaster of confidence and emotions’: lear ning to be a university student,
Online Paper Series: GEO-033
online papers archived by the Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh
http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/1891/1/hchristie002.pdf.
Longditudinal study of students moving from FE to an elite university.
P5 Despite (Gibbs 1992, Kolb 1984, Rogers 1975) ‘the literature has remarkably little to say about the emotional dimensions of learning ( Brown 2000, Boler 1999). There is little investigation of the emotional impulse to learning – of the difference that confidence, motivation, perseverance and creativity make to the individual’s wider disposition to learning, or the potential changes in learning identities.’
P6 Moving beyond theories that focus on individual cognitive abilities and processes
Lave and Wenger (1991) –‘theory of situated learning’ - ‘seeks to explain changes in learning practices when individuals become exposed to new influences and new situations’ learning as participation in social practice. ‘From this perspective significant learning is what changes our ability to engage in practice and to understand why we do it. Such learning has to do with the development of our practices and our ability to negotiate meaning’
P8
The paper considers ‘ the ways in which emotional processes underpin and become entangled with the social process of learning’ emotional labour involved in belonging to a project group.
The Study
Longitudinal over 3-4 years. Students entering an elite University from FE college. Interviews 2 in the first year.
‘Although not questioned directly about the emotional aspects of their learning experience, this emerged as an important theme in their interview data’
Ist interview at the beginning of the semester p9 ‘strong sense of exhilaration and excitement’ (Christie et al, 2006) few reported the same in the second round of interviews ‘p10 ‘ some students found the changes horrendous and stressful others thought ‘it was a rollercoaster of confidence and emotions’ and many described themselves at best ‘coping’ due to ‘learning shock’ p11 during the first semester ‘ differences had to be identified and the respondents learn how to be university students’ the loss of the familiar ‘ the effort students put in to learning to find their way about the campus and the potentially disclocating effects of this, should not be under-estimated’ p12 ‘ unfamiliarity with protocol and procedure, and the emotional insecurity it engendered, was a recurrent feature of the students’ account of transition’
Comment on findings
P14 ‘Accounts which privilege the rational dimensions of learning stress that expertise and learning competence are located in the individual and are independent of context’ “relying on a rational approach to learning misses the existence of ‘embedded’ or ‘tacit’ knowledge which resides in systemic routines and formal procedures’ “ Following Lave and Wenger (1991) our analysis suggests that to undertake ‘significant learning’ the students had to change their ability to participate in the social practices of learning.’
P16 ‘Our evidence suggests two ways in which the emotional processes of learning were entangled in the creation of new communities of practice. First, students developed new ways of learning: and secondly, these changes in practices and the identity work they undertook helped them to develop a sense of belonging to and membership of the wider learning community’
“Only be recognizing difference could they begin to engage with the new learning environment and begin to make it familiar, understandable and usable’
p20 ‘Membership generally was perceived as involving two aspects: first, participating in the social practices to do with learning: and secondly, participating in the social practices to do with student life’ p21 ‘emotional commitment to studying was a central factor in motivating and enabling them to create new ways of participating in a community of practice and in the process transform understanding of the community itself’
p24 ‘ We have shown that engagement with learning is a subjective experience bound up with other life events and experiences ‘
p26 ‘moving to a different learning environment brings new sets of risks and uncertainties because the students must negotiate the meaning and significance of the everyday practices embodied in the new learning setting. Being and becoming a successful learner is as much about the social and emotional, as well as the cognitive dimensions of learning.’ “Whilst it is important for universities to be concerned with the quality of their teaching programmes, the interactive, social and collaborative aspects of students’ learning experiences, captured in the accounts of the social situatedness of learning, are also important determinants of graduate outcomes’
Important references
Griffiths, S., Winstanley, D. and Gabriel, Y. (2005) Laerning shock: the trauma of return to formal learning Management Learning 36(3): 275-297.
Christie, H. , Munro, M., and Wager, F. (2005) /Day students’ in higher education: widening access students and successful transitions to university life.
International Studeis in Sociology of Education 15(1): 3-29.
