Diversity in students’ approaches to learning in parallel psychology courses

The SAL (Student Approaches to Learning) tradition focuses on mapping and assessing students’ approaches to learning in the learning context of higher education. Previous research suggests that approaches to learning are indeed sensitive to modifications in the learning context, and influence the quality of student learning. However, the knowledge regarding variations in student approaches relating to learning flexibility is still limited.This study investigates whether a natural learning context, providing parallel and resembling courses, involves different approaches to learning. Second semester psychology students were asked to describe their approaches to learning separately for two parallel courses. The analyses suggest that even though individual students seem to exhibit a consistent core regarding their approaches to learning, alternations between similar learning contexts can bring about large changes in both surface and deep approaches to learning. Strategic approaches to learning seem less flexible, but not unaffected.The findings add to the theoretical idea of considering approaches to learning as a flexible construct, which is sensitive to smaller transitions in learning contexts. From a practical view, the results support the idea that there are ways of designing powerful learning environments.