Qualitatively different university student experiences of inquiry: Associations among approaches to inquiry, technologies and perceptions of the learning environment

Abstract

There is variation in the university student experience of learning. Prior research has shown that factors that shape this include student characteristics, the learning context, student perceptions of that context and approaches to learning and their learning outcomes. In blended contexts, there is a need to identify variables which can explain why some students are more successful than others in order to shed light on why students in the same course completing the same activities in the same teaching environment experience these perhaps very differently and also achieve different outcomes. To address these issues, this study looks at first-year university students who were required to engage in online inquiry as a key part of their learning experience. This study offers a way of revealing qualitative differences in the student experience of learning in the students’ blended course. It suggests that differences in the quality of the experience can be revealed by variation in the quality of approaches to inquiry and learning technologies, differences in student perceptions of online workload and the integration of the class and online contexts. These differences were found to be logically and positively related to student achievement indicated by course marks, which provide implications for the design and teaching of courses in blended contexts.