Abstract:

The paper examines satisfaction of higher education graduates in Croatia with the study programmes where more student-centred learning approach has been applied, in comparison to those where more traditional modes of teaching and learning have been used. The concept of student centred-learning has been grounded in the theory of social constructivism and is structured in three major conceptual approaches that emphasise student freedom of choice and the consequent responsibility, student active engagement in the process of learning and construction of knowledge, and the shift in power from the expert teacher to the student learner. Practical implications of the student-centred learning approach may be observed in curriculum design and teaching, learning and assessment practices where we distinguish traditional teaching modes, such as lectures, oral and written students’ assignments, from more problem-based learning and teaching modes that include research projects, work-based learning, team-work. The objective of the paper is to test the hypothesis that graduates from those study programmes that are designed in a more problem-based learning and teaching manner are more satisfied with their learning experience and would choose the same study programme at the same institution, rather than graduates that studied at programmes with more traditional approach where the teaching mode Lectures has been applied to a larger extent. The analysis is conducted on self-assessment of a sample of graduates from higher education institutions in Croatia, graduated in the academic year 2017/2018, involved in the EUROGRADUATE 2019 pilot survey. The factor analysis is first applied on the set of variables that correspond to different teaching modes, resulting with two factors distinguishing traditional from non-traditional teaching modes. Logistic regression is then applied to examine the hypothesis, controlling for other variables that are gender, type of institution, qualification level, field of study and graduates’ assessment of to what extent their study programmes presented a good basis for further developments. The results of the analysis support the hypothesis. In consequence, this analysis contributes to proving the assumption that the teaching, learning and assessment modes, based on student-centred learning approach, result with higher level of graduates’ satisfaction with their studying experience.

Keywords:

Student-centred learning, teaching, learning, assessment, teaching modes.