PPD: Week 5 – Interpreting your ASSIST learning styles questionnaire

 Deep learning – learning because you like learning.

 Surface learning – learning to do just enough to pass (learning to get by).

 Strategic learning – learning to be successful.

ASSIST questions and their relationship to the learning styles and sub-scales

1. The Deep approach refers to activities in which a student engages fully and intensely with the subject(s)
being studied. In doing so, the student undertakes the following approaches to learning:

 Seeking meaning – i.e. trying to fully understand what is being learned

 Relating ideas – linking different ideas together (sometimes from different areas of study or from your
work experience)

 Use of evidence – studying the evidence presented and questioning the reasoning behind proposals to
see you agree with what is being said.

 Interest in ideas – becoming stimulated and enthused by what is being studied and being motivated to
learn more about the topic (i.e. go more deeply into it).

2. The Strategic approach refers to the activities which a student engages with in order to gain the greatest
benefit from his/her studies. This is achieved by having a learning strategy which should include:

 Organised studying – being systematic and organized, planning your studies on a weekly basis and
ensuring that you recognise and find a good study environment.

 Time management - managing and using your time effectively, ensuring that you work regularly and
steadily (e.g. by sticking to your weekly plan)

 Alertness to assessment demands – making sure that you understand the course requirements and
assessment. Requesting, obtaining and (most importantly) reviewing feedback on your work.

 Monitoring effectiveness – checking how effective you have (or have not) been in your studies –
reflecting on your experiences and feedback on your work and learning from and acting on both.

 Achieving – finding the motivation to do well, either from within or by recognising the career and
lifelong rewards. Doing your best.

3. Surface Apathetic Approach – this is an approach we all use at times. Sometimes we don’t have time to
study properly because of other commitments or events in our lives. However, it is important to understand
that depending on this approach at university leads to bad learning performances and ever worse results. The
good thing is that you can change the habits and approaches associated with surface learning. These include:

 Lack of purpose – this sub-scale questions why you are studying and if you are studying the right
subject. If you want to succeed in something, then you should have a sense of purpose. Only you know
the answers to these questions – and you really do need to think about them and find those answers.
  Unrelated memorizing (UM) – this is a typical type of behaviour for a student who is indulging in
surface learning. The student just tries to memorize everything without thinking about anything (e.g. not
seeking meaning or relating ideas to each other). Memorizing is the basis for learning, but you need to
use it for understanding. UM might work at school. It doesn’t work at university.

 Syllabus-boundness – this is a typical type of behaviour for many students – not just those indulging in
surface learning as a whole. Students sometimes make the mistake of thinking the syllabus is all you
have to learn. It is not. You need to read and think outside the syllabus and integrate the knowledge
gained from each area.

 Fear of failure – we all fear failure, don’t we? Yes, but that is not the point here. The best way of
coping with this was provided by a student who said “Well, of course I don’t want to fail. But I do my
stuff. I’m organised, I work hard. I get my assignments done on time and I learn as I go along. I
don’t fear failure because I know I’m not going to fail.” You can do this too!

Preparation Activity
Study your profile and then try to explain your profile to a partner.

1. Do you understand your profile? If not, identify what you do not understand and ASK questions.

2. Do you agree with what you have said about your own approaches to learning? If not, why not?

3. What is your dominant style (highest score) – Deep (D), Surface/Apathetic(A) or Strategic(S)?

4. What is your profile (highest, second and lowest scores – e.g. S, D, A?

5. What areas do you think you need to improve?

a. You want to aim for a high-Strategic, high- Deep, low-Surface/Apathetic profile – what do
you need to do to change your learning habits to get this?
b. Look at each style in turn – Deep, Strategic and Surface. Which sub-scales do you need to work
on (e.g. Relating Ideas, Achieving, Syllabus-boundness)? These will be low Deep or Strategic
scores or high Surface/Apathetic scores – compared to the other scores for that scale.
c. Identify the sub scale or learning behaviour you need to change.
d. Look at the questions related to that sub-scale/learning behaviour. What were your answers?
e. Work and write down what you think you need to do to improve in this area.
f. Even if you already have a high-Strategic, high- Deep, low-Surface profile, there will be areas
where you can improve. What are they? How will you improve?
g. Prepare 3 examples of how you would change your approaches to studying: ONE sub-scale for
EACH main scale
h. Be prepared to give feedback to the class.
Ray Webster, November 2021