The Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching & Learning

Collaboration Resources for
College and University Teachers

Deep Learning

College faculty and administrators are often keenly aware that what we want students to learn (how to think critically about important ideas, how to form meaningful connections between and among disparate pieces of information, how to communicate orally and in writing, etc.) often doesn’t match what they actually do learn (separate bits of data, often memorized for a test and forgotten soon thereafter).

The literature on “deep learning” helps shed light on this dilemma. The mismatch occurs, in part, as a result of a student’s approach to learning. As Ramsden (1992) puts it: “What students learn is…closely associated with how they go about learning it.”

Two Contrasting Approaches to Learning: Shallow vs. Deep

Shallow learning: The learner is largely passive, receiving information uncritically and in isolated bits of data, seeking to memorize facts and ideas in order to reproduce them for a test. Course content is often seen as a hurdle to overcome, merely something to learn in order to attain the desired grade. This approach to learning can be described as “quantity without quality.”
Deep learning: The learner is active, examining ideas critically, seeking to make sense of new information and working to link ideas with each other, with larger concepts, and with life outside the classroom. Rather than focusing on memorization in order to attain a grade, the deep learner seeks to understand and takes a holistic approach to the various new facts and ideas he or she encounters. This approach to learning can be described as “quantity and quality.”

How Can We Foster Deep Learning?►