Styles of learning and approaches to studying in higher education

Abstract

Gordon Pask contributed greatly to ways of conceptualising student learning in higher education. In particular, the three learning or conceptual styles – holist, serialist and versatile – together with the associated pathologies of globetrotting and improvidence, have helped to describe important differences in the ways students tackle academic tasks and in their preferences for differing styles of teaching. These concepts are related to other distinctions used to describe student learning – deep, surface, and strategic approaches to learning – and this article summarises research by the author and his colleagues into the patterns of relationship which have been identified. These studies have used large‐scale inventory surveys, but also intensive interviews with students which have explored how students seek to develop conceptual understanding, another important area explored by Pask. Increasingly, this research is indicating ways of improving teaching in higher education in ways which directly affect the quality of student learning.