TERTIARY STUDENTS KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR OWN LEARNING AND A SOLO TAXONOMY

This paper is a report of the analysis of statements by 869 students and their 21 lecturers in 12 courses in 5 Faculties in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The students and lecturers were asked to write a page about learning. The objectives were to collect data to devise a taxonomy of levels of knowledge of learning held by tertiary students and lecturers and to use this to describe student knowledge to lecturers as a basis for planning for teaching. The statements were categorised, using the SOLO Taxonomy as a model (c.f, Biggs and Collis 1982, 1989), by two trained researchers and checked by the author and a consultant. The majority of responses for both students and lecturers were multistructural. A MANOVA for SOLO levels by deep, surface and achieving motives and strategies showed that as SOLO levels increased surface motives declined and deep motives and strategies assumed more importance. The key concepts in learning identified by a random sample of 100 students were further analysed and described for each SOLO level. A SOLO type model of levels of knowledge of learning is proposed, based on the structure of the responses.