The development of the Conceptions of Learning Management inventory: Studies in Higher Education

The purpose of this study was to develop a questionnaire (called the Conceptions of Learning Management [COLM] inventory) to assess students' six categories of learning management (i.e. the learning of management), including learning management as ‘memorizing,’ ‘testing,’ ‘applying,’ ‘gaining higher status,’ ‘understanding’ and ‘seeing in a new way.’ Testing the scales with 428 students confirmed a six-factor structure through confirmatory factor analysis, and indicated an acceptable reliability and validity. The results also revealed gender and grade level differences in students' conceptions of learning management. Moreover, the ‘testing’ conception was negatively correlated with the conceptions of ‘applying,’ ‘gaining higher status,’ ‘understanding’ and ‘seeing in a new way.’ Possible reasons were discussed through a follow-up interview study, showing that students who agreed more with the ‘testing’ conception regarded tests as a motivation for studying, while students agreeing less focused more on applying and understanding knowledge than on preparing for tests in learning management.