The premise and promise of university study is learning for life and a new Australian handbook on how students can acquire the skills they need launches at the University of Queensland tomorrow.

The Australian Research Council supported Science of Learning Research Centre (SLRC) sets out seven principles in its Higher Education Learning Framework. Co-author Jason Lodge (UoQ) says the handbook, “is a substantial and important piece of work given actual student learning is often overlooked in discussions about quality in higher education in recent years.”

The seven HELF principles, which the handbook sets out strategies to apply, are:

learning as becoming: how students apply knowledge in life, as well as occupations

contextual learning:  applying learning in “novel and unfamiliar contexts”

emotions and learning: the ways students’ emotions shape learning

interactive learning: “the conscious and unconscious processes underpinning how students and teachers interact”

leaning to learn and higher order thinking: students taking charge of how they learn

leaning challenge and difficulty: how students can develop persistence and resilience

deep and meaningful learning: students moving from passive consumption to using previous learning to connect with new content