Skip to main content
Log in

Academics’ experiences of understanding of their subject matter and the relationship of this to their experiences of teaching and learning

Instructional Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper we focus on the issue of how academic staff experience the understanding of their subject matter and the relationship of this understanding to their experience of teaching. In recent years there has been a substantial amount of research into how academic staff conceive of teaching and learning, how they approach their teaching, and how their approaches to teaching relate to how their students approach their learning. In our present project this research is being extended by looking at the way 31 academics from four broad fields of study experience their understanding of their subject matter and how this relates to the way they experience their teaching. Using a phenomenographic approach we show that academics who experience their subject matter in atomistic and less integrated ways experience their teaching in more information transmission and teacher-focused ways, while those with a more integrated and holistic experience of understanding their subject experience their teaching in more conceptual change and student-focused ways.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • J.B. Biggs K.F. Collis (1982) Evaluating the Quality of Learning: The SOLO Taxonomy Academic Press New York

    Google Scholar 

  • E.L. Boyer (1990) Scholarship Reconsidered The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching New York

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Calderhead (1996) Teachers’ beliefs and knowledge R.C. Calfee D.C. Berliner (Eds) Handbook of Educational Psychology Simon and Schuster Macmillan New York 709–725

    Google Scholar 

  • L. Gow D. Kember (1993) ArticleTitleConceptions of teaching and their relation to student learning British Journal of Educational Psychology 31 93–97

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Hazel L. Conrad E. Martin (1998) ArticleTitleExploring gender and phenomenography Higher Education Research and Development 16 213–227

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Martin M. Balla (1991) ArticleTitleConceptions of teaching and implications for learning Research and Development in Higher Education 13 298–304

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Martin P. Ramsden (1998) Approaches to teaching creative writing B. Dart G. Boulton-Lewis (Eds) Teaching and Learning in Higher Education ACER Melbourne

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Martin M. Prosser K. Trigwell P. Ramsden J. Benjamin (2000) ArticleTitleWhat university teachers teach and how they teach it Instructional Science 28 387–412

    Google Scholar 

  • F. Marton S. Booth (1997) Learning and Awareness Lawrence Erlbaum Associates New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • J.H.F. Meyer R. Land (2003) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge (1): linkages to ways of thinking and practising within the disciplines C. Rust (Eds) Improving Student Learning: Improving Student Learning Theory and Practice–Ten Years On OCSLD Oxford 412–424

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Patrick (1998) Teaching and Learning: The Construction of an Object of Study, Ph.D Thesis, Centre for the Study of Higher Education University of Melbourne Melbourne, Australia

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Prosser K. Trigwell (1999) Understanding Learning and Teaching: The Experience in Higher Education SRHE and Open University Press Buckingham

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Prosser K. Trigwell P. Taylor (1994) ArticleTitleA phenomenographic study of academics’ conceptions of science learning and teaching Learning and Instruction 4 217–231

    Google Scholar 

  • K.M. Quinlan (1999) ArticleTitleCommonalities and controversy in context: a study of academic historians educational beliefs Teaching and Teacher Education 15 447–463

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Ramsden (2003) Learning to Teach in Higher Education Routledge Farmer London

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Samuelowicz J. Bain (1992) ArticleTitleConceptions of teaching held by academic teachers Higher Education 24 93–112

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Samuelowicz J. Bain (2002) ArticleTitleRevisiting academics beliefs about teaching and learning Higher Education, 41 299–325

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Trigwell M. Prosser (1996) ArticleTitleChanging approaches to teaching: A relational perspective Studies in Higher Education 21 275–284

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Trigwell M. Prosser F. Waterhouse (1999) ArticleTitleRelations between teachers’ approaches to teaching and students’ approaches to learning Higher Education 37 57–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Trigwell, K., Prosser, M., Martin, E. & Ramsden, P. (In Press). University teachers’ experiences of change in their understanding of the subject matter they have taught, Teaching in Higher Education.

  • K. Trigwell M. Prosser P. Ramsden E. Martin (1998) Improving student learning through focus on the teaching context C. Rust (Eds) Improving Student Learning Oxford Centre for Staff Development Oxford, United Kingdom

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Webb (1997) ArticleTitleDeconstructing deep and surface: towards a critique of phenomenography Higher Education 33 195–212

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

in final form: 9 September 2004

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Prosser, M., Martin, E., Trigwell, K. et al. Academics’ experiences of understanding of their subject matter and the relationship of this to their experiences of teaching and learning . Instr Sci 33, 137–157 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-004-7687-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-004-7687-x

Keywords

Navigation