knowledge acquisition in higher education: a bioecological systems theory perspective

Córais Faisnéise BainistíochtaScoil Ghnó Lochlann Uí ChuinnAn Coláiste Ollscoile, BÁC 4Éire

Management Information SystemsSchool of BusinessUniversity College Dublin, Dublin 4Ireland

Knowledge acquisition in higher education: a bioecological systems theory perspective

MA Academic PracticeMinor Thesis

Dr Niamh O Riordan

© N O Riordan 2015/6

Session Overview

• Motivation• Theoretical underpinning• The state of the art• Research objective and preliminary model• Research design• Findings• Discussion• Conclusion


Motivation

• Universities and the public good (Williams, 2016)– Individual growth– Economic growth– Societal growth

• Academic achievement and controversy– Socioeconomic background?– Ethnic background (e.g. Richardson, 2008)?– Gender (e.g. Crawford and Wang, 2016)?– Assessment strategies and grading practices (e.g. Bailey, 2015)?

• But what is academic achievement all about, really? – What is it, really? – What factors impact upon it and how?– What impact does it ultimately have, really?

Human Capital Mandate€2.7bn


Theoretical underpinning

• (Developmental) psychology

– Kurt Lewin• Field Theory

• Life space • Akin to Heidegger’s Life World

– Bronfenbrenner (1976, 1977a, 1977b, 1979, 1986, 1994, 1995)• An ecological perspective• Very strong opinions on research design• An original theory: the five systems• A revised model: proximal processes

Bronfenbrenner 1977b

“From an ecological psychology perspective, each learner-environment

interaction can be seen as the result of an intentionally-driven agent perceiving and acting on environmental affordances as

they move toward their currently adopted goal” (Tudge et al., 1997)


Bronfenbrenner (1979)


1. The microsystem is an immediate setting containing the learner (e.g., home, day care centre, classroom, etc.) A setting is defined as a place in which the occupants engage in particular activities in particular roles (e.g., parent, teacher, pupil, etc.) for particular periods of time.

2. The mesosystem comprises the interrelations among the major settings containing the learner at a particular point in his or her life. The mesosystem is the system of micro-systems

3. The exosystem is an extension of a mesosystem embracing the concrete social structures, both formal and informal, that impinge upon or encompass the immediate settings containing the learner and, thereby, influence and even determine or delimit what goes on there. These structures include the major institutions of the society, both deliberately structured and spontaneously evolving, as they operate at the local community level

4. The macrosystem is the overarching institution of the culture or subculture, such as the economic, social, educational, legal and political systems, of which local micro-, meso-, and exo-systems are the concrete manifestations. Such macro-systems are conceived and examined not only in structural terms but as carriers of information and ideology that, both explicitly and implicitly, endow meaning and motivation to particular agencies, social networks, roles, activities, and their interrelations

5. Finally, the chronosystem (see Bronfenbrenner, 1994) encompasses change or consistency over time not only in the characteristics of the person but also of the environment in which the person lives (e.g. changes over the life course in family structure, socioeconomic status, employment, place of residence, or the degree of hecticness and ability in everyday life).


Bronfenbrenner (1995); Bronfenbrenner and Ceci (1994)• P1: Especially in its early phases, and to a great extent throughout

the life course, human development takes place through the processes of progressively more complex reciprocal interaction between an active, evolving biopsychological human organism and the persons, objects, and symbols in its immediate external environment. To be effective, the interaction must occur on a fairly regular basis over extended periods of time. Such enduring forms of interaction in the immediate environment are referred to as proximal processes. Examples of enduring patterns of proximal process are found in parent-child and child-child activities, group or solitary play, reading, learning new skills, studying, athletic activities, and performing complex tasks (p. 620)

• P2: The form, power, content, and direction of the proximal processes affecting development vary systematically as a joint function of the biopsychological characteristics of the developing person; of the environment, both immediate and more remote, in which the processes are taking place; and the nature of the developmental outcomes under consideration. (p. 621)


The state of the art

• Literature review– Selection criteria

• ABS 2010 3* Journals– Studies in higher education– British Educational Research Journal– Academy of Management, Learning and Education

– Inclusion criteria• Published between 1996 and 2016• Presents findings in relation to the factors affecting acaemic

attainment or success or performance rather than retention or completion

• Presents a clearly described research method• Carried out in a higher education setting

– n = 35 – Analysed with reference to Bronfenbrenner’s original work


The state of the art

• Most studies focusing on the individual• Many studies focusing on the microsystem• Hardly any studies looking beyond that• Most studies focusing on a single factor or maybe two• Very little variation in research methods used• Very little focus on the dynamics of relations over time• Heavy reliance on quantitative data and large data sets• Some engagement with student perception


Research objective and preliminary frameworkTo investigate the dynamic interplay between proximal processes in higher education


Research design

• Unobtrustive measures– Phase One

• Introductory maths class 2013/14, n = 150• CAO points and country of origin• Engagement processes

– Lecture attendance (organised by LO)– Workshop attendance (voluntary)– Support centre attendance– Online video consumption (organised by LO)

• Attainment processes– Continuous assessment completions– Final exam mark

– Phase Two• Found sources regarding effort • Attribute time pressure to factors at the level of the meso-

and exosystems


FindingsPhase One• There are definite types of engagement patterns

– Those who participate fully – Those with a strong preference one way or another– Those whose engagement is problematic

• But, things change over time– Student video consumption is a regular repeating pattern linked

to assessments– Student lecture attendance definitely tails off over time and isn’t

linked to assessment timeline though it does heavily influence attainment

• Time management capability is interesting: the strongest students engage with videos much earlier than weaker students

• There are definite differences in engagement patterns according to gender and possibly prior knowledge but how this plays out in interim attainment and overall attainment is interesting


FindingsPhase Two• A variety of factors impact upon students’ capacity to engage in

higher education both in terms of the mesosystem and also the exosystem– From the student perspective...

• Financial pressure• Family committments• Tools and technologies

– From the instructor perspective…• Resource availability• Workload and working conditions, ‘stretch’ • Grading practices and conventions including inflation


Discussion and conclusion

• The bioecological systems perspective presents a powerful interpretive lens through which to understand academic achievement in the context of higher education

• An application of this lens to existing literature suggests that many factors influencing academic achievement have not yet to date been examined

• This study begins to unpack the implications of the chronosystem for academic achievement and in particular, the impact – and unintended consequences - of learning technologies on academic achievement


QUESTIONS?