Principles of University Learning - Essay Example

INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PORTFOLIO Personal reflections It is none too personal to divulge inner thoughts on my own experience at the University, for it’s common intelligence among students that “University culture” is a cloistered paradigm of thought, individually projected and collectively dissected. Within University precincts, the world has a completely different order and meaning. The course on Principles of University Learning (PUL) has landed me in chartered territory and given a clearer sense of purpose and a goal to achieve. Above all it has created an awareness in me about the directional thrust of education and its ultimate value. I might not have thought of value judgments so seriously before. PUL has been designed to provide a holistic learning experience to the student at the university. It presupposes the all too important participation on the part of the student in this once-in-lifetime experience. However, it still reminds the student of the endless opportunities available to students for learning. Thus learning is a full lifetime experience. Individual students’ perception of university learning is determined by a number of factors such as cultural influences, socio-economic influences and personal attitudes. My own attitudinal perspectives on PUL are coloured by such factors as my own perception of individual liberty and economic status. The whole process of education at the university has been exceedingly rewarding and primarily reorienting. PUL has afforded me a vantage point in understanding the process of education. I might have deliberately avoided examining my inner feelings towards university education at the outset for the fear of exposing myself to prejudices of fellow students. PUL plays a pivotal role in awakening in students a desire for self-learning that promises a paradigmatic shift in attitude and individual experience. Despite a host of much hyped liberties in non-institutional environments of learning, the experience of such learning has little or no rewards. Thus, PUL as a subject provides the student with a much wider scope to embark on a pursuit of self-interest. There are some implications of such a program of study though. For instance, at times I happen to entertain qualms about the so called futuristic dimension of a subject that has more to do with university culture and environment. Personal predilections and positive or/and negative marginal propensities all play a major role in this sensitive issue. My own senses and sensibilities very rarely find a medium for expression. But PUL has provided me with that opportunity. The subject, not only frees the student of university straight jacket mentality, but effectively thrusts them into the center of gravity. The last six chapters in Marshall’s book graciously induct the self-learner into a highly vigorous realm of critique, analysis and discovery. She has efficaciously sought to juxtapose theory against practice, a rare quality in authorship (Marshall, 2006). Appropriate skills in using modern technology such as computers and the internet would do much in augmenting this revolutionary paradigm of learning. Last, but not the least, the learning curve of an individual has an uneven growth trajectory. I often think of a new law of diminishing marginal performance. But then there is no such a thing as age-related performance in education. So my conclusion is that PUL in particular and self-learning in general provide the kind of learning experience that has little or no parallel. 2. Personal Reflections An essential component of the Principles of University Learning (PUL) is the study environment and here I am highly impressed by self-learning process coupled with professional guidance. Then there is the most desirable experience for a university student, i.e. multicultural study environment. Cross-cultural experiences of individual students might vary depending on the degree of cultural mix on the campus. Cultural diversity at Australian universities is one of the highest in the world today. This diversity of cultures brings with it a plethora of rich values, beliefs, mores and practices. Culturally diverse study environments provide a rich source of perspectives to the individual student and at the same time create a dynamic experiential quality. I have been struck by this quality. Such cultural variety ought to benefit the average student largely as a positive outcome of intermingling on the campus (Hoftstede, 2003, p. 104). Australian universities and colleges have been adapting to this cultural heterogeneity with remarkable success. According to IDP Education Australia in the year 2003, the Chinese students at Australian universities constituted the biggest percentage of the total foreign student population in Australia with 44%. Korean and Japanese students constituted 14% and 6% respectively. Asian students in Australia constitute the biggest foreign body of students in the country. Despite a fall in the number of foreign student registrations in the recent past, the country still has a significant appeal for foreigners. It is this cultural diversity that enable students to learn from others. There is also a considerable proportion of North American and East European students as well. Personally speaking, I have been transformed into a multicultural being and PUL has added to this already rich experience by way of its unique focus on self-learning strategies. There is also an individual contribution that each PUL student makes to the total university experience. Culturally, the contribution is diverse and pervasive. The fact that these culturally diverse student groups carry with them a distinct cultural identity each and that it is this cultural identity that translates into meaningful societal relations at a broader university level is undeniably great and obvious. Students have every great opportunity to enrich themselves with these diverse values and customs. Each ethnic group has its own ethos that underlies the very essence of its culture and this ethos symbolizes the very basis of the group’s attitudes. It is in this respect that learners on campuses benefit by exposing themselves to a culturally diverse atmosphere. (Chryssochoou, 2004, p.6). The author particularly places emphasis on the benefits of multiculturalism. PUL has enabled me to understand just this aspect of university education so well. Finally, I hope to illustrate how PUL has enabled me to be culturally neutral when the occasion doesn’t allow me to culturally self-assert. For example, hard and fast rules do not exist in a free-floating university atmosphere. But nevertheless, expectations of individual students could be high. When everything else is considered to be less important, culture itself might not be taken seriously. This norm has been well known among students at universities throughout the world. PUL has just enabled me to rejoice in this self-awareness of a very complicated problem. Its social dimension is far more widespread and nearly universal. 3. Personal reflections Principles of University Learning (PUL) as a course of study, revolves around life-long learning and therefore in a sense it is also about self-regulated study. It enables the student to self-regulate his or her study schedules and make use of opportunities and situations. I have felt completely at ease with this phenomenon. There is also another aspect of PUL, i.e. skills development and self-discovery. The course as a whole leads the student to develop a series of skills such as mustering courage to do self-studies and face examinations with a degree of certainty that otherwise could have been lacking. I have mastered some of the skills such as doing effective reference in a library by myself to achieve the objectives of the course. There is a set of clear-cut goals that provide us students with enough motivation to go on. I have been able to define these goals in advance. It is all the more encouraging to think of the reinvigorating experience of being involved in a process of investigation. The self-awareness of its qualitative dimension has helped me to be more result-oriented. I have been made to feel certain about learning outcomes, rather than hesitating and self-doubting. The learning process has become not only dynamic but also cumulative, in that new aptitudes are constantly reflected upon (Schunk and Zimmerman,1998, p.108). What I am doing today will benefit me tomorrow. This certainty about a continuous self-enriching experience in life heightens the legitimacy of PUL as a near perfect course of study that is self-fulfilling and rewarding. The other learning outcome of PUL is that it enhances what I have already learnt rather than becoming a superfluous addition to existing level of knowledge. Every individual learns in a formal environment such as a school or a university or/and in an informal environment such as social intercourse or internet-based experience. PUL cuts across these clear divisions formal and informal barriers and codifies individuals’ experiences and knowledge. The sum of these experiences will definitely be greater than the parts, thus creating a holistic learning experience. No doubt that this process will also create some additional indirect benefits such as confidence building and knowledge dispersion. It is a popular belief among people that what’s learnt, in turn, causes a ripple effect in the society. Therefore PUL can be regarded as subject with a multiplicity of learning outcomes. If the existing subjects at the university could not be expected to fill the void created by the absence of this subject, then the introduction of it into the university curriculum has filled the void. The community of students at universities would be feeling relieved by the fact that they have finally been given an opportunity to express their own feelings and opinions about their university experience and what they think about the way they are being taught. It enables them to size up the level of inputs. Intellectual capacity of the average student at the university is partially determined by the degree of freedom that he or she enjoys with regard to choice of learning methods. PUL seeks to promote a liberal intellectual tradition into the orthodox university environment. This is a laudable effort. I have been particularly motivated by this paradigmatic shift in learning process and its outcomes. University students have been given numerous choices with regard to their methods of study though only a few of them are of any value to them. PUL presupposes liberal indulgence in self-thinking. It’s probably the most liberal art at university and stands out as a highly promising subject for the independently-inclined individual who may otherwise feel that study choices are limited by exigencies of the university calendar. REFERENCES . 1. Chryssochoou, Xenia, (2004), Cultural Diversity: Its Social Psychology, Victoria, Australia, Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2. Hoftstede, Geert, (2003), Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviours, Institutions and Organizations across Nations, California, Sage Publications. 3. Marshall, Lorraine and Rowland, Frances (2006), A Learning Guide: A Guide to Learning Independently, Sydney, Pearson Education, Australia. 4. Schunk, Dale H and Zimmerman, Barry J, (1998), Self-Regulated Learning: From Teaching of Self-Reflective Practice, New York, The Guildford Press. Read More