Main individual factors influencing the learning approaches: The first-year students’ perspective

Currently, the quality of student learning i.e. in-depth learning is essential in any planned reform. The massification phenomenon is one of the challenges facing this quality. This study explored the student characteristics influencing the learning process in an open access faculty, namely, the Dhar El Mahraz Faculty of Science in Fez, Morocco. Semi-structured interviews were conducted on 15 freshmen who enrolled in Earth and Universe Sciences and Life Sciences (EUS/LIS) program and presented a dominance of a surface learning approach. The main factors encouraging surface learning emerged were the learning habits and strategies, language competencies, motivational aspects and gender. The findings serve as an input for the design and implementation of actions to enhance deep learning

Students' approaches to learning (SALs): Validation and psychometric properties of a tool measurement

BACKGROUND: Deep learning is an important outcome of the higher education and is mostly determined by students' approaches to learning (SALs). The latest version of the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ) is one of the most used instruments assessing SALs. Many studies from various contexts have either validated or used this famous tool. But none of them—to the best of our knowledge—stem from the Moroccan tertiary context. The current study fills this gap by first: Getting a local translation of the questionnaire following the standardized methodological process and secondly to update the validity and psychometric properties of the construct. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Arabic back translation was performed. Data were collected among tertiary scientific students. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's coefficient alpha, and confirmatory factor analysis were carried out under SPSS version 22. RESULTS: A strong fit of the dichotomic construct (deep and surface) was found, whereas the hierarchical models were disappointing. CONCLUSIONS: Following the standards of the psychometrics' validation, this Arabic version could be used only in first-order factor model to evaluate the deep and surface approach within tertiary education in Moroccan context