University Students as Creators of Personal Knowledge: an alternative epistemological view

Abstract

Many universities attempt to help struggling students through 'remedial' skills instruction. However, the problems that these university students face are neither entirely technical, as suggested by 'traditionalists', nor entirely social/structural, as suggested by 'postmodernists'. Often, students find university studies difficult because they have an inappropriate conception of what learning is and involves: they see knowledge as an external, objective 'body' of facts and learning as the passive absorption of this data. What these students need is an alternative epistemological view, one that enables them to see themselves as creators of 'personal knowledge', rather than as containers to be 'filled', and that allows them to develop personal learning techniques. Such a conceptual shift is a highly individual process that students must undertake and experience for themselves. More research on specific activities that will enable students to redefine knowledge and learning is needed.