Designing Deeper Learning Experiences for Online Instruction.

Abstract

Deeper learning promotes students ’ active engagement in learning environments, so they can continuously explore, reflect and produce information to build complex knowledge structures. Consequently, deeper learning has become a major focus of scholarly investigation and debate. Multiple studies have been conducted to describe the characteristics of deeper learning and to determine methods for infusing it into the curriculum. The paper starts with a description of deeper learning, reviews the body of existing research and presents guidelines for deeper learning that can be used in online learning environments. Deeper learning has been a focus of higher education discourse for more than three decades. The concept of deep learning was first mentioned in 1972 by Craik and Lockhart. They argued that deep learning involves higher level or active cognitive processing, as opposed to surface learning where students use lower level cognitive functions such as simple memorization or rote learning. Beattie, Collins, and McInnes (1997) furthered this idea and described deep versus surface learning in more detail: The deep approach, which implies that a student learns for understanding, is characterized by students who (1) seek to understand the issues and interact critically with the contents of particular teaching materials, (2) relate ideas to previous knowledge and experience and (3) examine the logic of the arguments and relate the evidence presented to the conclusions. The surface approach, which implies that a student learns simply to memorize facts, is characterized by students who (1) try simply to memorize parts of the content of teaching materials and accept the ideas and information given without question, (2) concentrate on memorizing facts without distinguishing any underlying principles or patterns and (3) are influenced by assessment requirements.

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