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The approaches that students in higher education take to learning are of primary concern to staff. The objective is to engage students in what are described as ‘deep' rather than ‘surface' approaches. A deep approach to learning is usually associated with higher levels of academic achievement at university. The Engineering Subject Centre learning and teaching theory guide provides a good explanation of the differences between deep and surface learning:

‘Approaches to learning describe what students do when they go about learning and why they do it. The basic distinction is between a deep approach to learning, where students are aiming towards understanding, and a surface approach to learning, where they are aiming to reproduce material in a test or exam rather than actually understand it.'

You find about more background information on this from the guide at the Engineering Subject Centre Website.

Programmes need to be designed to encourage deep rather than surface learning approaches by students. This requires consideration of the Constructive Alignment between programme aims and the teaching and assessment methods that are appropriate to require and foster deep approaches to learning by students.

A paper by Noel Entwistle ‘Promoting deep learning through teaching and assessment: conceptual frameworks and educational contexts' provides a very good overview of the conceptual thinking and context of deep learning.

A JoHLSTE article by Derek Peters, Gareth Jones and John Peters in Volume 6 No.2 considers the ‘Approaches to Studying, Academic Achievement and Autonomy, in Higher Education Sports Students'.

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