Contribution to research in distance education and online learning

Attrition from distance education was my first educational research field. My interest and involvement in distance education arose at the University of the South Pacific, a regional university catering for 13 Pacific Island countries. I taught a distance learning course involving media packages, a laboratory kit, and the use of satellite communication. Research into attrition from distance learning courses continued through the early part of my academic career.

My initial role in Hong Kong, at the Polytechnic University (PolyU), was as an instructional designer for study materials to support part-time study. It was here that I first began to pursue the aim of building models to explain attrition. With the expansion of higher education in Hong Kong, in the build up to the handover (transfer of sovereignty in 1997), the PolyU shifted away from part-time study towards a stronger emphasis on conventional undergraduate education. My role then focused on teaching and learning quality enhancement for face-to-face teaching; so, my research outputs at that time had a greater emphasis on face-to-face teaching and learning.

My ongoing interest in distance learning has been re-enforced by my current position at UTAS, which has a substantial proportion of students taught through online learning. Attrition from online courses is a major concern, as it is undermining a much-needed initiative to boost participation in higher education in Tasmania to advance social and economic equity goals. In my early academic positions, I took a keen interest in researching the prominent issue of why attrition rates are higher in distance education than those in conventional education. The issue is still highly pertinent but has evolved now that technological advances have seen a shift in the mode of delivery; from offering non-face-to-face courses, to online and blended learning. I have, therefore, expanded my original educational research field to incorporate all modes of online and blended learning.

I have recently been actively applying SEM to current complex issues related to online learning. Kember, McNaught, Chong, Lam and Cheng (2010) used SEM to examine the relationship between the use of design features of educational websites and their impact upon student learning outcomes in blended learning environments. Kember, Leung and Prosser (2019) was a SEM study, using data from student records systems, modelling factors impacting on attrition from online and blended learning.

My approach to attrition research sets me apart from other researchers in the field by concentrating on the complementary question of what could be done to promote successful completion or student progress. This has logically led to a focus on student learning, grounded in the student approaches to learning paradigm.

Contribution to research into student learning

My research into student approaches to learning (SAL) grew out of my early distance education research. The model of student progress included SAL as a major component. I was one of the first to compare learning approaches of face-to-face and distance learners.

My interest in SAL grew in Hong Kong, initially around the paradox of the Chinese learner. Chinese students performed well in international comparisons, yet appeared to predominantly adopt surface approaches to learning. Kember and Gow (1990) was the first study to report approaches to learning, intermediate between surface and deep, which combined understanding with memorisation. This proved to be a foundation study for the genre of work on the Chinese learner. Kember (2000) challenged the misconceptions about Asian students’ approaches to learning by drawing on work showing that memorisation can occur together with understanding. In addition, motivation was not consistent with Western models existing at the time. Biggs, Kember and Leung (2001) introduced the revised two-factor version of the Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F), which is currently the most widely used instrument for assessing students’ approaches to learning.

In Kember (2001, 2007), I investigated the issues faced by students in making the transition between school and university. The problems they faced could be explained in terms of a trio of interlinked beliefs in learning, teaching, and knowledge. Inexperienced students held reproductive teacher-centred beliefs, and found it hard to adapt to modes of study other than classroom learning. More experienced students, who held learner-centred beliefs, were able to adapt better to student-centred modes of study.

Another major strand of my work has been on conceptions of teaching and their impact on learning outcomes. Kember (1997) is the definitive review of research into university teachers’ conceptions of teaching. It synthesises the research by placing conceptions under two broad orientations characterised as content- and learning-oriented. Kember and Gow (1994) was the first study to show that conceptions of teaching can be related to student learning outcomes. We found that departments in which learning facilitation predominated, promoted a deep approach to learning when compared to departments with an alternative approach.

My SAL research work has led to the consideration of ways to implement changes to teaching practice in higher education. I was one of the pioneers for the use of action research as a mechanism for teaching quality enhancement. The Action Learning Project (Kember, 2000) was a massive research study, with 90 sub-projects. It supported lecturers to perform action research projects to improve the quality of student learning in their courses. It was influential in promoting action research as scholarship of teaching and learning.

Books

I have authored or co-authored 12 books, a rare accomplishment in my field. The first four were concerned with enhancing the quality of learning and teaching in higher education and distance education. The remaining eight synthesised my research findings from a series of lengthy projects: modelling student progress in distance education; action research for teaching quality enhancement; reflective practice; award-winning teachers; evaluating teaching and learning; and motivation.

Most recently, I have also edited a book with Professor Michael Corbett titled Structuring the Thesis (Kember & Corbett, 2018). It has 40 chapters, and challenges the use of the conventional thesis structure being based on the scientific research method. This is considered inappropriate for the disciplines of education and the social sciences, as few studies in these areas follow the scientific research method.

Citations

Papers             242

Citations         24,422

h-index            72

g-index            156

hI,norm           56