University students’ information seeking behaviour in a changing learning environment – How are students’ information needs, seeking and use affected by new teaching methods?
Introduction and aim of the study
Introduction
The theoretical basis of this study is partly in theories and conceptions of learning and partly in that research in information seeking, needs and uses which emphazies the user and takes the social context into consideration.
The need for changes and improvement in the quality of education has become apparent also in Finland in the higher education during this decade. The reasons have been the growth of information, a growing number of students in higher education, demands on output and productivity from the society, and the criticism against existing university policy. University policy has been critizised both in national evaluation reports of Finnish universities and in the OECD-report on evaluation of Finnish universities from 1994. Generally the development in scientific research in learning and knowledge has influenced the need for changes also in the university pedagogy. (Sallinen 1995, 10-12)
The old educational system has been critizised for its conception of knowledge. In the education learners have received pieces of information which have no connection with the real life. For that kind of information and knowledge is little use in the modern society. Instead there is a need for knowledge and skills for problem-solving and critical and creative thinking (Voutilainen et al. 1991, 19-21). The old static conception of knowledge has to be replaced with a dynamic conception of knowledge. According to the dynamic view knowledge is something continuously changing and growing when individuals are actively using and producing it (Voutilainen et al. 1991, 9-10).
Instruction and study are always based on some conception of learning. Two main traditions in the conceptions of learning are the empirical/behavioural and the constructivist conceptions. The constructivist conception of learning has during the last decades challenged the behavioural one. The constructivist conception has its roots in the rationalistic epistemology and in “image of man” of evolutionary theory. It has been influenced by pragmatics (Peirce), functionalistic psychology (James), progressiv pedagocics (Dewey) and symbolic interactionism (Mead). Representatives of these approaches emphasized the critical role of action in the existence of human beings generally and also in learning. The constructivist conception has also been influenced by the ideas of Gestalt psychology, Bartless’ theory of schemes, Piaget, Vygotsky and the cognitive approach (von Wright 1994).
According to cognitive psychology human beings are basically active and goal-oriented and willing to get information about themselves and the world. Their actions are directed by intentions, expectations and response. They maintain knowledge in memory in hierarcially organized structures, schemes, and new knowledge is constructed on the basis of previously learned knowledge. This process of construction has features in common for every human being but the contents are individual. Learning occurs in connection with action and is part of the cognitive process. During the last decades the cognitive approach has emphazised aspects in the contents and the context of learning (von Wright 1994, 16-18).
The constructivist conception of learning leads inevitably to emphazising flexible methods of instruction which take account of learners’ characteristics. (von Wright 1994, 19).
When the focus has been changed from the results of teaching to the learning process itself the goals of education will be to maximize learners own efforts in the learning process. Teachers’ task in the learning process is to support learners in activating their prior knowledge and skills, and to give response. This type of teaching is called activating teaching. Essential is that learners not are passive recipients of knowledge but actively processing and producing it (Lonka 1991, 10).
Activating methods of teaching which support the learning process are for example activating writing assignments, projects, tutorials, journals and cooperative learning (Lonka and Lonka 1991, 28-45). Problem-based learning (PBL) which has been applied specially in medical education is a pedagogical methodwhich is based on the modern conception of learning. In PBL the real-life situations form a starting point for problem-solving and are the basis for learning. Self-directed learning and learning in group are characteristic of PBL (Problembaserad 1993, 11).
PBL as an activating pedagogical approach to learning emphasizes the students’ independent information seeking. It’s assumed that the students are gathering information from different sources, because predetermined lists of literature, set by teachers, are usually not used. Information sources like libraries, databases, experts, different textbooks and journal articels are mentioned as possible sources. Although lectures are not regarded as a primary mode of instruction, they are used also in PBL, and can form a source of information for students (Nikkarinen and Hoppu 1994; Andrup et al. 1995; Poikela and
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