Relevance in tertiary instruction: A psychological interpretation

Abstract

Relevance is an ill-used, slogan-like word which scholars eschew but which tertiary students persist in using as a criterion for success or failure of their classes. Those who would improve college instruction can facilitate student acceptance of their recommendation only by seeking to understand what relevance means to the learner, and by tailoring reforms to meet the learner's conceptions. Defining relevance as a kind of “goodness-of-fit” in teacher-student interaction, the author elucidates its cognitive, affective, and technological dimensions in the light of psychological research and theory. Students who demand relevance are asking for “meaningful” content which is appropriate to their developmental level and which is conveyed by media to which they naturally respond. The problems faced by teachers and curriculum planners include: (1) understanding the nature of the students' classroom experience; (2) designing curricula and instructional procedures which are congruent with, rather than antagonistic toward, the aspects of that experience which facilitate learning; and (3) finding ways of implementing those procedures within a system not easily turned from its traditional path. Specific suggestions for attaining relevance are made; but the strongest recommendation is for increased understanding of the meaning of the word relevance itself - a development which would bring vigor to an important word now vitiated by misuse.