Using learning dimensions within the Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) as indicators of academic success in Biosciences

The Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory (ELLI) was developed by the University of Bristol and aimed to raise students’ awareness of their own learning power; summarised in seven key dimensions related to the learners’ dispositions, attitudes and behaviours associated with learning (Deakin-Crick and Small, 2006; Deakin-Crick, 2007; Deakin-Crick, Broadfoot and Claxton, 2004).
This study used ELLI with level 4 and level 6 cohorts in Biosciences programmes at
Northumbria University as an indicator of academic performance. The dimension with the highest mean score for level 4 students was ‘meaning making’, followed by ‘changing and learning’. ‘Creativity’ had the lowest mean score. Students were divided into two groups with respect to their academic achievement; the ‘successful’ and the ‘satisfactory’ group. The successful group scored higher in all dimensions, compared to the satisfactory group.
The differences in the scores for ‘meaning making’ and ‘creativity’ were statistically
significant. Large differences were also found for ‘changing and learning’, ‘strategic
awareness’ and ‘resilience’. Interestingly, all of these, with the exception of ‘meaning making’, were also the dimensions for which Level 6 students scored higher than Level 4 students, but the differences were not statistically significant.
Results indicated that ELLI is a useful tool for identifying key dispositions in successful learners, which could inform interventions to improve learning within a cohort.