Some factors affecting student learning: The B.Ed. students' perspective

Helping students entering Teriary-level education to both "adjust" and obtain the maximum benefit from their advanced studies is a common theme in Foundation Year courses. It is a particularly significant theme in those courses which lead directly to a teaching qualification - such as the newly established B.Ed. (Primary) Honours course at the HKIEd. This paper is unusual in that it seeks to explore some factors which may affect student learning not only from the perspective of those students but also directly through those students' own voice. A range of self-research topics have been explored by the current B.Ed cohort and here, their findings and the interpretation of their findings is expressed directly by the B.Ed, students themselves. It is anticipated that through audience interaction, the reality that the "factors affecting student learning" will emerge not as "fixed" items susceptible to "fixed solutions" but rather to be fluid, subject not merely to change but also shifting prioritisation, accommodation and in some cases, remaining simply unsolvable. By observing and noting our students' response to such factors, this Paper seeks to go beyond what teachers teach to understand why students learn what they learn.