Impact of personal values on learning approaches and academic achievements in UK higher education

Abstract

In the post-Covid era of higher education, blended teaching has become the standard method of instruction. This approach incorporates various modes of delivery, and it is important for students to engage in the diverse form of learning. Considering students’ preferences for learning approaches, especially independent learning, is crucial in the development of blended teaching methods. One of the key factors affecting students’ preferences is personal values, which can influence student’s adoption of learning approaches. This, in turn, affects their engagement in the learning community and their academic performance (Gamage, Dehideniya and Ekanayake, 2021). Personal values vary culturally, and this is particularly relevant when developing blended teaching strategies for cohorts of mixed nationalities. This issue is especially pronounced in the departments and schools across the UK universities, which often have a diverse student body with mixed cultural backgrounds. Our research aims to examine the role of personal values (specifically self-direction values and conformity values) in students’ adoption of independent learning and the impact of these values on their academic achievement in blended teaching context.

Our research was conducted in 2022 through an internship scheme sponsored by WMG. We conducted a Qualtrics survey with the convenient sample of 162 among which 146 from China (including Hong Kong S.A.R.). The results indicated that self-direction values were closely correlated with both independent learning and academic achievement while no significant correlation was found between conformity values and independent learning or between conformity values and academic performance were found. The research results hold considerable importance for educators in design self-directed study for students from varied cultural backgrounds in higher education settings.