Cultivating the disposition to understand in 21st century university education

This article discusses the need, in 21st century university education, to encourage a 'will to learn' in students, and explores its meaning using a variety of empirical evidence. It draws on previous studies related to academic understanding to introduce the idea of a disposition to understand for oneself and to consider how teaching-learning environments can be adapted to encourage this consistent tendency to want to understand deeply and to be alert to ways of developing that understanding further and using it appropriately. In discussing such environments, particular emphasis is placed on the role of Web 2.0 technologies and how they can be used to support the disposition to understand.