ABSTRACT
Active learning seeks to encourage all students to employ the learning strategies of successful students. To explain this, Biggs (1999) employs a device for illustrating a key distinction between more and less academically successful students. Within the current student population, Biggs suggests that lecturers will encounter ‘Susan’ and ‘Robert’. ‘Susan’ is ‘academically committed’ and learns in an ‘academic way’ (Biggs, 1999: 3). ‘Robert’, on the other hand, is ‘less committed’, ‘possibly not as bright’ and has a ‘less developed background of relevant knowledge’.
