Researching Student Learning: Approaches to Studying in Campus-Based and Distance Education

* How can one study the process of student learning in higher education?
* How does distance education differ from campus-based education?
* Do students taking courses by distance education approach their studies in a different way from students in campus-based institutions?

The last twenty five years have seen major developments in our understanding of how students set about the task of learning. This has led to a substantial body of ideas, theories and evidence that are concerned principally with studying in conventional, campus-based higher education. However, there is a largely separate literature concerned with approaches to study in distance education. Both bodies of literature have involved qualitative as well as quantitative research methods, and both have emerged from many different countries around the world. This book provides a critical evaluation of the literature and draws out its implications for both distance and conventional education. In short, the book provides the first detailed survey of approaches to studying in distance education, and the first integrated account of approaches to studying in both campus-based and distance education.

John Richardson argues that there are no qualitative or quantitative differences between how students in campus-based and distance education approach their studies that cannot be attributed to differences in background variables such as age and previous educational experience, and thus that the lessons learned can be shared between the two separate bodies of literature.

This book is an important resource for all those concerned with learning and teaching in universities and colleges, whether in campus-based or distance learning institutions.