Higher Education Learning Framework - report from Science of Learning research centre - Australia

Here is a report which is relevant to all forms of learning and should be required reading for all teachers. The report is put together by researchers from the Science of Learning research centre (SLRC) who are based at the University of Queensland and the University of Melbourne.

The report is titled 'Higher Education Learning Framework: An evidence-informed model for university learning'. Athough the context is higher education, there is much in the report which summarises the latest in educational research and neuroscience which are also relevant in other education sectors.

There is a summary of the matrix and an overview of the project as well.

The centre also edits a journal - Npj Science of Learning - which is worth a look through.

The report advocates seven themes that support learning. Each of the themes is then extended with an explanation. Then strategies for teachers and students are detailed to maximise the efficacy of these themes for each group. Strategies for assessment and the principle theories / literature review and a list of relevant references complete each theme.

The themes are:
- learning as becoming
- contextual learning
- emotions and learning
- interactive learning
- learning to learn and higher order thinking
- learninc challenge and difficulty
- deep and meaningful learning.

The report is particularly useful as each theme is summarised briefly and the strategies for teachers, students and for assessments, provide good pragmatic examples for follow through.It is not too long, and teachers can dip in and out of the report to mine the ideas for enhancing teaching practice.