研究称繁复课程内容使学生“疲惫不堪”

学者们急于以过多阅读材料、视频和幻灯片来迎合不同的学习偏好,这使学生们感到疲倦

五月 8, 2023
A woman falling asleep at her desk. Is the requirement for academics to constantly learn new skills going to burn them out?
Source: iStock

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互联网的无限容量正成为学生的一大磨砺,他们在不断高涨的课程内容浪潮中挣扎求生。

澳大利亚的一项新研究发现,学者们在很大程度上没能注意到学生们正被“在线参与疲劳”所吞没。为了迎合不同学习偏好的需求,教育工作者摆出了一大堆推荐读物、视频、在线论坛、课程公告和每周的讲座录音。

但他们是不是“做得太多”了?“学生们是否对那些原本旨在提升(他们)学习参与度的策略感到厌倦?”南昆士兰大学和纽卡斯尔大学的研究人员在发表于《计算机与教育开放》(Computers and Education Open)的文章中问道。

为找到答案,研究者们采访了学生和教育工作者。虽然学者们对在线参与疲劳是否真实存在“持不同看法”,但学生们“几乎一致地”表示它是一种常见的痛苦。

然而,尽管在线参与度以及如何提升它是“越来越受到大量关注”的研究议题,过度在意的后果几乎被忽略了。研究者们写道:“需要进一步研究探讨更易察觉在线参与疲劳的方法、该现象的前因后果,并采取行动减少其对学生积极性、参与度和成功的影响。”

该研究的主要作者、南昆士兰大学会计学副教授苏珊娜·马洛尼(Suzanne Maloney)表示,以前一些学生有选择性地挑选课程材料,“但现在学生们似乎更难辨别什么该放着不管了。”

“每门课程中都有很多花哨的内容。有太多的信息……通过网站、网页链接、论文、在线讲座和视频会议纷至沓来。学生们越来越难以划定界限。人们(经常说),‘我们会上传这个内容,以防可能有用’,但没有想过把它放上去其实没有任何帮助。”

受访学生们表示,他们被“太多知识”和“来自大学的一百万条信息”所淹没。花好几个小时“盯着一个非常小的屏幕”让他们筋疲力尽,很想放弃。

一位受访学者将此描述为“标准的战斗或逃跑反应……有些人只是(说)这太麻烦了,然后他们就点击关闭了”。

研究发现,自主学习的学生们经常被误解,因为大学利用数字分析来衡量学生们的参与度,并将缺少“点击量”的行为被认为是漠不关心。一位教育工作者告诉研究人员:“你不能得出统一结论称一个不点击学习内容的学生就是糟糕的学生。”

“他们(可能是)表现出色的学生,能自主行动......并且不喜与其他学生互动。这并没有错。”

马洛尼博士表示,点击次数被视为“参与度的某种代表”,而实际上,学生可以“下载所有内容而不阅读任何内容”。她说,大量学习材料并不适合每门课程。“有些模块你只需要他们练习、练习、再练习”。

“我们必须告诉教育工作者不要把所有学习材料都加进去。我们甚至可能必须教育大学管理层相信教育工作者能够决定什么对他们的学科至关重要。”

她说,教师需要专注他们的教育目标。“我们有所有这些精美的课程规范,并且都已经将它们映射,但归根结底,目标是什么?我能够为学生们做些什么来帮助他们理解学习?”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com

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Reader's comments (1)

Oh, it is definitely a real thing. And it is a thing of both their and our own making. Because academics and universities as a whole are now practically petrified at the idea of telling the fee paying customers "No" to anything, because we now have students making more claims than ever that they need and must have learning resource support of a million different kinds and formats, and because we genuinely want to support them on their journey we have begun to cater for that by putting up every version of every format of the learning material we can conceive of. We have begun putting up links to papers and websites and videos related to everything that we taught them to answer their call for guidance and examples to aid their understanding of what we have just taught them. And all in the name of helping them to read around what they've been taught without them having to actually go and look at what might best help them read around what they've been taught because they are now "customers" and should not have to do these things themselves. But in doing this in an effort to meet their requirements and requests and to be as supportive as possible, we have now created an almost bottomless folder of information both directly related and tangentially related to what was actually taught. And in a world where grades are (in a general sense) sought after more than the learning experience itself, the impression given to students and their own interpretation of this support is that if they don't use at all then they can't possibly get a good grade. This then inevitably makes them feel that they have to read it all and watch it all and download it all to keep their heads above water, which ironically any speeds up their scholastic submergence beneath the waves of content. And if we tell them directly that it is only support material and it is not compulsory, the fear that those who do use it will do better is more than enough to hasten along the rest to download it as well. You add in the communications coming at them from all directions, from support services to academic staff to institutional levels, and we're not actually creating a culture of support to reduce their stress and concerns, but one of as you say "content fatigue" where we are actually stripping away or otherwise not nurturing their ability to judge necessity for themselves or to look for the writing information for them as individuals to help their understanding or to support their journey through the university experience. Just because someone is responsible for you and wants to keep you happy, it doesn't mean that you should get what you want or that getting what you want is good for you. My kids might want pudding before dinner, but it doesn't mean that they're going to get it because I'm better placed to make that judgment than them, and it certainly doesn't mean that it's good for them even if I were to cave to keep them happy.