Abstract:

Master's studies are not compulsory for most students, as they are not required to complete university studies. In most cases, students choose the subject of the master's degree according to their preferences and job expectations. The students' approach to learning depends on different factors, such as personal, contextual and perceived aspects. The program, subject and teaching and assessment methodology are within the contextual domain and affect the student's perception, which also influences the student's approach to learning that adopts the student in a particular context. In the present study, students' approach to learning was assessed in a two-year second-year master's subject, before and after the COVID-19 pandemic disease, using the R-SPQ-2F questionnaire at the start of the course. Students showed a deeper focus than the superficial approach with no differences with respect to subject year or gender. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was high for the main scales, but not for the secondary scales with high correlations with the main scales and their related subscales. No differences were observed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The values of the deep approximation scale were high but lower than previous studies in undergraduate subjects in the same area of knowledge. These results support the idea that students lose part of their high initial focus for learning in this area of knowledge even choosing the master's degree with prior knowledge of the subjects and topics of the career. Improvements should be made in teaching and assessment methodology to gain a deeper focus on students, but also on other contextual aspects of the program.

Keywords:

R-SPQ-2F, deep and surface approach, assessment, learning styles, COVID-19.