Personal Context

In any learning situation, what a learner does in order to learn and the outcomes of this learning will be significantly affected by how the learner defines the particular learning situation they are in. And this definition will be shaped by a range of factors which can be said to form the personal context of the learner. These factors could include the particular learner's motivation, interest in the subject; relevant background knowledge (including substantive knowledge of the discipline and relevant socio-cultural knowledge); familiarity with the particular learning task, linguistic competence; self-esteem; assumptions about learning and assessment; previous experience of failure and success; current concerns related to financial security, personal relationships, and accomodation; adjusting to a new socio-cultural context and so on. As each of these factors will vary between learners, how each learner defines, experiences and engages with the particular learning context will itself also vary. How might the learning environment provided by the teacher accomodate these personal differences?

Socio-cultural Context

While by no means an exhaustive definition, the socio-cultural context can be said to be formed by the shared taken-for-granted assumptions, rules and norms governing what is taken to be appropriate and inappropriate and what is taken to be significant within a particular community or social group. In a particular type of activity, a lecture, a simulated boardmeeting etc., these taken-for-granted conditions will govern aspects of communication such as who has the right to speak when, how people are addressed, how one takes turns at speaking, what can be talked about and so on. The socio-cultural context can also include what is taken for granted as shared background knowledge. References to Seinfeld and Aussie Rules Football could be perfectly meaningful to some students but not to others.

The Learner

Physical Context

Are the physical conditions for our students conducive to their learning? Do they have the space and equipment necessary for the tasks? Can they access the information or practice opportunities necessary for them to learn? Are they on the most approapriate 'location for learning'? To what extent are field trips and work-based experiences necessary to provide a context essential to learning? Where along the continuum from abstract intellectual experiences to authentic 'real' learning do we locate the learning opportunities we provide through our courses and units?

Educational Context

Context has obvious educational dimensions, such as the prior education system experienced by the student; the abilities of the 'teacher' as 'knower', trying to convey understanding to, or encourage understanding in, the student; and, the structured regime of teaching and the required demonstration of what has been learned. To what extent do we as teachers recognise the variability in the prior curriculum of our students? How do we, as 'knower', grapple with the learning task in such a way as to assist from a position of ignorance, or misunderstanding? 'Getting inside' the 'ignorance' or misunderstanding of our students is often critical to our understanding of the conceptual context in which our students learn. Finally, the degree programme, with its multiple demands for learning and the demonstration by students that learning has taken place, provides a contextual dimension, sometimes seen more clearly by the student than the teacher. Is our unit consistent with this broader context? How do we know? What is the context of the degree programme itself in which we are expecting our students to learn?