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Developing habits of reflection for meaningful learning
Abstract
Students' formation of meaningful learning through community based activities varies with the nature and quality of reflective skills they develop and apply.
... This is important as critical reflection plays a major role in facilitating adult education and transformative learning as it allows one to look deeper at one's values and ideology to critique views considered "true" and "moral" (Brookfield, 2000), in order to uncover hegemonic assumptions and hidden power dynamics which serve oppressive power structures. For Fiddler and Marienau (2008), the reflection process helps move an event to an experience to garner meaning and potentially challenge preconceived notions or ideas. Other facilitators of transformative learning include individual experience, holistic orientation, dialogue, authentic relationships, and awareness of context (Taylor, 2009). ...
... Critical reflection through journaling and reflection circles, a main element for transformational learning (Taylor, 2009), facilitated the move from an event to an experience where meaning is extracted (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008). While it was challenging for some of the participants, the majority of interview participants stated the important of reflection circles and journaling (Brookfield, 2000) both in the moment, for a deeper understanding and validation of their feelings, and as a time capsule of the experience which participants return to from time to time after the delegation. ...
... This research underscores the importance of experience and reflection, especially collective reflection, as an element to transformation (Taylor, 2009). The process of orientation, experience, and debrief outlined by Fiddler and Marienau (2008) is shown in this research to be significant to the learning experience. The ongoing reflection during the delegation was found by participants to deepen their understanding of their experiences and enrich their time in Guatemala. ...
This article examines the experience of six participants in the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BTS) delegation program. Human rights education is central to this program that operates between Canada and Guatemala. Key findings from this research include participants’ rethinking of their own power and privilege upon returning to Canada and making connections with the struggle of Indigenous peoples in both countries. Another finding concerns how specific communal aspects of the BTS delegation (communitas) lead to social transformation and the development of solidarity relationships that are transformative to all. The research affirms the need for experiential learning experiences which use transformative learning approaches to support human rights and social change.
... This observation is an important one to highlight considering the contexts within which reflection and sensemaking processes typically occur. Specifically, both reflection and sensemaking are activated in response to unusual, ambiguous, and perplexing events, and both involve identifying one's own values, beliefs, and biases in the context of the situation (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008;Mumford et al., 2008). Likewise, Hunt (2007) found that students who engage in SL describe being better equipped to challenge existing assumptions and to consider their responsibility to others. ...
... At its core, SL is focused on others and the communityon the relationship of one's discipline to social needs and bolstered civic responsibility (Hatcher & Bringle, 1997)-which corresponds to asking for help and considering others' perspectives. Yet, SL also emphasizes questioning one's own assumptions and beliefs and thus discourages individuals from clinging to their biases and relying only on their own perspectives and interpretations (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008). Such characteristics map quite closely onto questioning one's judgment and looking within. ...
... Although reflection is beneficial in and of itself, results from this effort support the efficacy of structured and guided reflection as compared to general reflection. Past work has indicated that reflection does not happen spontaneously, easily, or on command (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008;Gelter, 2003), and it is therefore not enough to ask students to "go and reflect" (Welch, 1999). Rather, reflection must be done deliberately, with time and effort dedicated specifically for the purpose of reflection (Gelter, 2003). ...
Using the sensemaking model of ethical decision making (EDM) as the framework for this effort, we explored the effectiveness of service-learning (SL) pedagogy on how students approach ethical decision making in terms of sensemaking and reflection in a matched sample of undergraduate business students. Participants were asked to read a relevant business ethics case, identify critical causes and constraints, forecast downstream consequences, and provide a final decision for the problem. Furthermore, participants reflected on various components of the case in a written format. All responses were content-coded by raters blind to the study’s hypotheses. Findings indicated that students with SL experience utilized many more ethical sensemaking strategies to aid in the EDM process than the control group, demonstrated increased consideration for the welfare of others, and their reflections considered community needs and discussed personal goals and values. Additionally, an exploratory analysis revealed the impact of reflection on EDM. Specifically, quality of participants’ reflections and their consideration of community needs within those reflections positively predicted EDM. The implications of these findings for understanding the impact of SL and reflective activities in teaching business ethics are discussed.
... At ACU Education and Health Sciences academics and students continue to be active users for accreditation of teachers, nurses and paramedics [2], [3]. ...
... A [2]? This approach could help reluctant staff take the first steps to profile their own experience for a particular purpose such as promotion or fulfilling probation requirements. ...
... EPortfolios could be used as a more convenient tool or vehicle for learning. It has the potential to help staff manage collaborative relationships through group activities and reflect on the nexus between scholarship, research, teaching and personal learning (PLN) [1], [2]. Staff would be able to document their personal learning journey as well as adopt alternative strategies for career development aligned to the seven ACU Teaching criteria. ...
... Hal ini bisa berupa kemiripan antara satu konsep dengan konsep yang lain, bisa juga berupa penerapan satu konsep pada konsep yang lain. Hubungan antara konsep yang mulai dibangun pada tahap ini disebabkan oleh adanya pemeriksaan atas asumsi, kepercayaan, model mental, serta nilai (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008 Komponen-komponen di atas dapat menjadi pertimbangan guru dalam menyusun pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang dapat mengugah kemampuan berpikir siswa. Pertanyaan yang digunakan dapat berupa hal-hal apa saja yang menarik bagi siswa dan mengapa hal tersebut menarik dan penting bagi siswa. ...
... Pada tahap ini, pengetahuan sudah terstruktur dan koneksi antara pengetahuan lama dan yang baru sudah ada. Jika tahap terakhir menurutShuell (2010) hanya sampai pada koneksi pengetahuan, bagan yang diambil dari modelFiddler & Marienau (2008) dan teori dari Van Brummelen (2009) sedikit berbeda. Van Brummelen (2009) menambahkan bahwa jika siswa mampu bergerak di luar batas dengan respon tanggung jawab maka siswa mampu menemukan pembelajaran yang bermakna. ...
Proses penemuan makna terjadi ketika siswa mampu mengkonstruk suatu konsep utuh sehingga dapat melahirkan tindakan dan tanggung jawab. Program Pengenalan Lapangan (PPL) yang dilaksanakan di salah satu sekolah di Jakarta terfokus pada penyelesaian materi menunjukkkan respon berbeda-beda seperti sikap antusias dan tidak antusias. Kajian ini akan membahas pertanyaan tentang mengapa dan bagaimana jurnal refleksi dapat menjadi penuntun siswa dalam menemukan makna pada mata pelajaran Kimia. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode studi literatur. Sumber data utama pada penelitian ini digunakan berbagai jurnal dan buku sedangkan sumber data tambahan berupa hasil refleksi guru saat mengajar serta hasil refleksi siswa saat belajar. Berdasarkan pembahasan, diperoleh bahwa jurnal refleksi dapat digunakan sebagai alat untuk mengaitkan pengetahuan awal dan pengetahuan baru menjadi satu konsep signifikan yang melahirkan respon bertanggung jawab. Jurnal refleksi ini penting untuk diterapkan karena dapat menjadi sarana bagi guru untuk menciptakan ruang berpikir yang melampaui materi pembelajaran dengan pemahaman dan respon yang benar.
... There are various factors that influence how educators develop their lesson plans, including context, content, intent, and arrangement of materials (Stark, 2000, p. 413). Additionally, teaching strategies (Gagné, 1987;Bloom, 1956;Grasha, 2002), learning style preferences (Kolb, 1984;Rayner & Riding, 1997), experiences, events and meaning (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008), as well as instructional choices, elaborations, and reflections (Kolb, 1984;Reigeluth, 1978) influence educators' decisions about a lesson, and also influence a lesson's learning outcomes in relation to educators' learning styles. Similar to other learners, the learning style preferences of an educator develops early in life and continues to evolve, merge, intermix, and scaffold layers of knowledge, experience, and humanness into a complexly patterned and collaboratively comprehensive system that is used to sustain an educator's advancement of learning and teaching processes. ...
... Two theoretical foundations and one conceptual framework were used in this study: 1) Kolb's (1984) experiential learning theory (ELT) informed learning style application, 2) Bloom's (1956), Reigeluth's (1978), and Gagné's (1987) instructional design theories and models as they supported instructional processes, and 3) Fiddler's and Marienau's (2008) Events Model of Learning from Experience. ...
Research on learning styles often focuses on the learning style of the student; however, the learning style of the educator may affect instructional choices and hinder learning. Few studies have addressed the lack of knowledge that exists in universities with respect to educators’ learning styles and a lesson framework (development, delivery, and debriefing). This sequential mixed methods study explored university educators’ conscious, reflective instructional choices as they related to learning styles application within a lesson. Two theoretical and one conceptual frameworks drew on Kolb’s experiential learning theory, Bloom’s, Reigeluth’s, and Gagné’s instructional design theories and models, and Fiddler’s and Marienau’s events model of learning from experience. Research questions addressed learning styles, usage patterns, instructional choices, and reflections of university educators within a lesson framework. An online inventory recorded 38 university educators’ instructional choices, learning styles, and learning styles patterns within the framework of a lesson. Interviews were conducted with 7 of the university educators to document their conscious reflections regarding their instructional choices. Results from the inventory identified that more than 56% of university educators applied the accommodation learning style during the stages of development and delivery of a lesson, and 34% applied the assimilation learning style during the debriefing stage, which were supported by detailed reflections about their instructional choices in relation to their learning styles. The knowledge acquired about learning styles applications during a lesson framework may benefit university educators’ teaching, which are foundational to affecting positive social change within academic and social communities.
... First, previous educational experience not only affects the implementation but may act as a barrier. Therefore, a connection must be made between the new approach and existing methodologies, so that students can understand what they are experiencing (Boud, 2001;Fiddler and Marienau, 2008;Platzer et al., 2000). Second, reflective writing as an outcome of reflection about the meaning of an experience is not as natural a process as verbal reflection, and therefore new thinking skills must be learned and integrated as well as the narrative writing skills needed to keep the RL journal. ...
... Second, reflective writing as an outcome of reflection about the meaning of an experience is not as natural a process as verbal reflection, and therefore new thinking skills must be learned and integrated as well as the narrative writing skills needed to keep the RL journal. In this context, the role of the professor as guide or facilitator (ensuring clarity in roles and expectations) and institutional or structural support are both important (Brockbank and McGill, 2008;Fiddler and Marienau, 2008;Gopee and Deane, 2013;Harris, 2008;Jarvis, 2001), along with the context in which the RL process takes place (Gross and Peden-McAlpine, 2007). ...
Background
Adapting university programmes to European Higher Education Area criteria has required substantial changes in curricula and teaching methodologies. Reflective learning (RL) has attracted growing interest and occupies an important place in the scientific literature on theoretical and methodological aspects of university instruction. However, fewer studies have focused on evaluating the RL methodology from the point of view of nursing students.
Objectives
To assess nursing students' perceptions of the usefulness and challenges of RL methodology.
Design
Mixed method design, using a cross-sectional questionnaire and focus group discussion.
Methods
The research was conducted via self-reported reflective learning questionnaire complemented by focus group discussion.
Results
Students provided a positive overall evaluation of RL, highlighting the method's capacity to help them better understand themselves, engage in self-reflection about the learning process, optimize their strengths and discover additional training needs, along with searching for continuous improvement. Nonetheless, RL does not help them as much to plan their learning or identify areas of weakness or needed improvement in knowledge, skills and attitudes. Among the difficulties or challenges, students reported low motivation and lack of familiarity with this type of learning, along with concerns about the privacy of their reflective journals and about the grading criteria.
Conclusions
In general, students evaluated RL positively. The results suggest areas of needed improvement related to unfamiliarity with the methodology, ethical aspects of developing a reflective journal and the need for clear evaluation criteria.
... This includes reflection after community-based rotations, community service-learning (CSL) opportunities (Gadbury-Amyot, Simmer-Beck, McCunniff, & Williams, 2006;Keselyak, Simmer-Beck, Krust-Bray, & Gadbury-Amyot, 2007;Kunzel, et al., 2010;Strauss et al., 2003), and clinical experiences (Boyd, 2002;Hanson & Alexander, 2010;MacEntee, Pruksapong, & Wyatt, 2005). Post-experiential reflection is designed to help students learn from the actual experience, not just from classroom-based pedagogy (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008). A positive outcome from reflection was that "students can move away from stereotyping and holding presuppositions about their experiences to a more personal exploration of their learning and themselves" (Brondani, 2010, p. 635). ...
... Post-experiential reflection is the most common type of reflection noted in the literature. It is designed to help students learn from the actual experience, not just from classroom-based pedagogy (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008). This includes reflection after community-based rotations, community service-learning (CSL) opportunities (Gadbury-Amyot et al., 2006;Strauss et al., 2003), and clinical experiences (Boyd, 2002;Hanson & Alexander, 2010). ...
This study investigated dental students' prejudicial beliefs towards underserved patient populations as an upstream constituent of provider attitudinal barriers to care. The objectives were to explore the nature of prejudicial beliefs, to assess the value of critical reflection as essential preparation for patient care, and to identify insights that would inform the preclinical curriculum that, ultimately, reduce oral health disparity.
An original reflection assignment was introduced into the preclinical curriculum of first year dental students to journal about the legitimacy of their prejudicial beliefs. Results indicated dental students identified a range of prejudicial beliefs and, through self-direction, experienced awareness and transformation of their beliefs. Participants agreed that reflection had value. Insights were identified that could enhance the preclinical curriculum. This contributes to the evidence base on pedagogical strategies historically focused on post-experiential reflection. Themes explored include concepts defining the nature of prejudicial beliefs that could guide and inform professional practice.
... There is a distinction between an event and our experience of that event. An event is something that occurs without differentiation, while an experience involves highlighting salient aspects by an individual [2]. Teachers' experiences are often shaped by the unique characteristics of their environments [3] and hold value not only for personal insight but also for broader social science research [4]. ...
In this Special Issue (SI), we have published recent scholarship addressing (a) narrative ways of knowing, (b) the diversity of methods used for researching experience and (c) issues related to the use of narrative to explore the experiences of individuals within an educational context [...]
... The assessment extends to the learning process and students' reflections following the completion of the learning process. According to [4], meaningful learning is closely linked to reflection. This aligns with [15], who emphasized that reflecting on experiences, emotions, and knowledge, followed by an evaluation, leads to enhancements and provides insights for future actions. ...
... Dalam pembelajaran bermatlamat, pelajar harus mengenal pasti proses pembelajaran mereka sendiri, membuat refleksi apa yang mereka pelajari dan mengenal pasti implikasi atau kesan pembelajaran (Karki et al. 2018). Dengan itu, proses refleski menganjurkan pelajar untuk mewujudkan makna peribadi terhadap konsep dipelajari (Fiddler, & Marienau 2008). ...
In today's education, the use of social media to support teaching and learning is widely accepted and practiced. This development is in line with students’ life style that represents Generation Z in accessing information and communicating. Not much research has been conducted on the use of social media to support meaningful learning that can provide a deeper understanding of its implementation in Higher Education Institutions. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the characteristics of social media in education and meaningful learning and to propose a model of meaningful learning using social media in Higher Learning Institutions. This study applies a qualitative approach using literature review by conducting content analysis of previous research. The results show that social media has many useful features such as freedom, flexibility, authenticity, individual and real-time. These features potentially stimulate students to interact with learning materials and learning environment to enhance their conceptual understanding and inspire concepts application in real life. The proposed model is expected to guide educators and researchers on the compatibility of these two approaches to be implemented in Higher Learning Institutions.
... In order to help students to process the experience, both sections of the course utilized reflection, a best practice that has long been established in the service-learning literature (Bringle and Hatcher 1999;Eyler 2002;Fiddler and Marienau 2008;Hatcher and Bringle 1997). In its second iteration, an additional approach that the class introduced to attenuate the despair was to develop stronger connections among participating students so that they could return to a community that had had a shared experience. ...
As the gap between the world’s rich and poor grows wider and the limitations of institutional solutions such as foreign aid continue to be exposed, students of development are shifting their focus toward individualistic business-based solutions that seek to draw members of marginalized communities into the global marketplace. This focus on the individual, however, raises three interconnected issues: it privileges a view of the human person as individualistic versus relational, it proposes isolated solutions that are not scalable, and it can leave would-be change agents feeling hopeless. Drawing on insights from sociology, political philosophy, and Catholic social thought, the current paper presents an alternative path to educating for an inclusive economy by arguing that our greatest structural challenges require us not to abandon institutional solutions but rather to develop better institutions rooted in a fuller notion of the human person. Specifically, by cultivating a mindset of relationality through immersion experiences and mindfulness practices, we propose that business education can empower students to develop hope-filled solidarity with the marginalized, understand their role in the global economic system, and as future business leaders, build virtuous institutions for the common good.
... Prior research has shown that meaningful learning is likely to occur when learners are involved in constructive, active, intentional, relational and authentic processes (e.g. Brookfield, 1986;Fiddler & Marienau, 2008;Hakkarainen et al., 2007;Jonassen & Strobel, 2006;Keskitalo et al., 2011;Okukawa, 2008;Taniguchi et al., 2005) as further examined below. ...
... INQUIRY ACTIVITY SYNTHESIS. Reflections through a synthesis allow learners to derive meaning from their experiences of an activity (Fiddler and Marienau, 2008). Thus, a presentation was developed as a ''take home message'' for the entire activity so students could reflect on their own understanding of the pollen viability Brewbaker and Kwack (1963) in vitro germination media used to germinate pollen of plumeria cvs. ...
Learning by doing plays a critical role in a learner’s conceptual understanding. By actively engaging with a concept, students gain experience and develop an enduring understanding of the concept. The concept of pollen viability is a critical component in the field of plant breeding and can be used to explain various aspects of pollen quality. An inquiry activity was designed to expose undergraduate students in a horticulture course to the concept of pollen viability and its application. The entire class was tasked with collaborating to identify an in vitro germination medium optimized to germinate plumeria (Plumeria rubra) pollen. To determine optimum sucrose and pH concentrations of the medium, student groups were assigned treatments of pollen from two plumeria cultivars that were germinated in Brewbaker and Kwack media of differing sucrose and pH concentrations. Students calculated the percentage of germinated pollen and assessed pollen tube integrity and used these variables as evidence of an optimized medium. Although undergraduates were engaged in authentic research practices during the inquiry activity, lack of time and resources impeded completion of the activity. However, students were exposed to methods and instrumentation directly related to evaluating pollen viability. Moreover, they were exposed to the basic practice of pollen quality assessment that they can use to carry out investigations on pollen fertility. In addition, insight was gained to improve the inquiry activity in the future. Now, well-informed modifications to the inquiry activity can be made to pilot this activity in a formal horticulture laboratory section. © 2017, American Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.
... 39 Morris Fiddler and Catherine Marineau stated that, for reflection to lead to learning, it must include "questioning and examining assumptions, beliefs, mental models, values, and a host of other qualities that characterize meaning." 40 Pre-and post-reflection narratives not only served as the evaluation instrument for the study but also provided an opportunity for participants to think critically about their experiences as learners, their work with graduate students, and the connections they made with adult learning theories. ...
abstract:
Librarians at colleges and universities invested in graduate education must understand and incorporate adult learning theories in their reference and instruction interactions with graduate students to more effectively support the students’ learning. After participating in a professional development program about adult learning theory, librarians in this study reported that, in many ways, they already employed teaching and learning strategies grounded in one or more adult learning theories. They also indicated gaining a greater awareness of student development, enabling them to more successfully tailor their interactions.
... Meaningful learning happens when students reflects on their assumptions, mental models, and values (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008). ...
... Reflection is a process of looking into one's experiences and then converting them into meaningful learning that ends in better choices or actions (Rogers, 2001). Reflection involves allowing one's own ideas, theories, beliefs, values, and mental models to be informed by the ideas, theories, and beliefs of others in order to examine and interpret one's experience(s) for purposeful meaning (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008). ...
Professional development refers to continuing education designed to enhance competencies, skills, and knowledge. There is a need for a professional development model based on the educational processes used by educators of adults. A professional competency development model was constructed from a study grounded on four educational process areas in Extension. In this study, 441 randomly selected Extension educators in the North Central Region of the United States participated through an online survey. The proposed model has implications for designing professional competency development programs in the areas of needs assessment/program development, teaching and learning methods, delivery strategies, and evaluation methods. It also indicates the best time and place for Extension educators to develop the competencies and suggests a mechanism to continuously identify the knowledge and skills needed to obtain the best results. This model could be used to develop educational programs in a variety of national and international settings.
... Learning from experiences in community settings requires learners to reflect on their encounters, seek to integrate and interpret their own beliefs and assumptions in the context of their learning, and identify any changes to their fundamental belief systems (Fiddler & Marienau, 2008). Early in his book on critical reflection and teaching, Brookfield (1995) states that reflection is based largely on understanding how assumptions are created and maintained in addition to figuring out how the various systems in our environment influence the manner in which we engage life. ...
Service-learning has become a prevalent topic of discussion on college and university campuses across the United States. Students engage in internships, service activities, and mission trips to far-away places as well as neighborhoods down the street in order to gain experience and apply what they are learning in a realistic setting. The purpose of this study was to identify ways a higher education institution listens to the voice of the community in which it resides throughout its implementation of service-learning initiatives. The concept of power, as described by Lukes (2005), provided the primary theoretical framework for this case study informed by Appreciative Inquiry. Data were collected through interviews with community partners who had collaborated with the university in service-learning activities, as well as university students, faculty, and members of the senior leadership team. Additional data were collected through observations and review of institutional artifacts. The findings of this study indicated that service is an integral part of the curricular and co-curricular offerings of the institution examined. Using the major classifications of discover, dream, design, and destiny found in Appreciative Inquiry, the overarching themes which emerged from the study included issues of building trust, ameliorating misunderstandings, fulfilling both community and institutional missions, and recognizing that service is a part of a democratic society. Examining community voice in service-learning relationships is important because power and influence exerted by members of the academy could thwart the citizens they purport to serve. The findings of this study illustrated examples of positive town-gown relationships whereby institutional constituents and community partners created collaborative experiential learning which fostered benefits on multiple levels. Issues such as sustainability, applying research to practice, honoring individual and collective strengths, and adaptability to democratic social change were described as tenets of effective service-learning as well as suggested as the ideals adult educators should seek to incorporate into their daily practice.
The following paper describes a collaborative service-learning project done in an online graduate class on instructional design. With the help of the university's service-learning program, a community issue was identified related to encouraging underserved populations to pursue STEM careers. Graduate students developed a data analysis from surveying high school students, designed and implemented a website where information about specific careers can be found, and evaluated the project with the help of a high school science teacher. The project also required that the graduate students reflected about the service activity to gain a deeper understanding of course objectives. The course instructor and graduate students' experiences during this service-learning project are discussed.
The first year in Higher Education (HE) is an international priority because of its importance to the retention of students. While initiatives to improve students’ commencing experience continue to develop one area that has received limited consideration is the first‐year curriculum. The aim of the research reported in this paper was to enhance the student experience in HE by expanding understandings of the first‐year curriculum. Focus groups and an online questionnaire were the research methods used to, explore students’ experiences of learning in a newly developed First‐Year Block Model (FYBM) curriculum, implemented at a university in Australia. Findings from the research revealed that features in the design of the FYBM framed and permeated the students’ experiences of learning. The students explained that a sense of familiarity, curriculum leadership, teaching and teachers and curriculum customisation influenced their engagement and achievements. The study highlights that HE requires staff who possess deep knowledge and expertise in the first‐year curriculum because this valuable asset can positively influence student learning and success.
The focus of this chapter is how technology is used as a reflective tool for professional development. Specifically, the chapter addresses the utilization of an electronic data management system, coupled with reflective practice, to improve teaching and learning in a college classroom. Instead of utilizing only a traditional Teacher Evaluation Questionnaire (TEQ) for feedback at the end of the semester, the instructor entered scores for each element on twelve assessment rubrics as fields in the electronic data management system. Scores were collected and analyzed over multiple semesters in order to make improvements to instruction. Evidence of higher scores on assessment rubrics followed course revisions.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a competency-based curriculum design model based on a set of ten foundational professional competencies (PCs) that prepare college graduates to meet the needs of global businesses now and in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
This phenomenological single-case study reviews literature on the foundational principles of competency-based education (CBE) and comparatively analyzes the results of qualitative interviews to create a set of ten PCs linking employee and business success.
Findings
This study presents a theoretical competency-based curriculum model (competency-based learning, performance and behavior (CBLPB)) designed for online education programs to enable a twenty-first century workforce to succeed. The curriculum design model is tested as applied by the researchers in various courses taught at an online university.
Research limitations/implications
This is a conceptual model for testing in academic research settings in colleges and universities.
Practical implications
The study suggests that higher education business curriculum should be designed using a CBE model to develop graduates with the foundational PCs that employers need and desire in educated working professionals.
Originality/value
From the faculty perspective, the CBLPB curriculum design model can enhance the design and implementation of CBE in business programs.
The successful achievement of the goals of education for sustainable development (ESD) primarily depend on the nature of the curriculum, teaching and learning approaches, assessment practices and teacher commitment. Research shows that, although secondary school teachers are expected to infuse global issues in their respective teaching subjects at secondary school level, in Botswana, many of them are unable to do so. Teacher education programmes are blamed for not equipping them with the knowledge and skills needed to integrate such issues into their disciplines. The aim of this chapter is to share attempts made by two teacher education instructors in incorporating ESD in their courses at the University of Botswana. The key questions addressed are: (1) which pedagogical approaches can be employed in humanities disciplines to embrace ESD? (2) How can students be assessed to measure the extent to which they have acquired the knowledge, skills, and attributes needed to participate in sustainable development? Data for this chapter are based on document analysis and examples of practices from the authors’ courses. The research adopted narrative inquiry approach gathering data whose analysis demonstrates that it is possible for instructors, to transform their pedagogical and assessment practices to embrace ESD principles.
This chapter describes how adult learners in competency-based degree programs learn to reflect actively on their learning and performance. Vignettes of adult learners portray what they perceive as the benefits of reflective practice for their personal and professional lives. The author, an adult educator, shares her experience facilitating reflection in two different contexts: reflection that focuses on the individual and reflection that is done in collaboration with others. In the context of competency-based programs, many of the adult learners emphasize reflection on self that includes movement to social action. The chapter concludes with a discussion of reflective practice with regard to frameworks of experiential learning and brain-aware learning.
The following paper describes a collaborative service-learning project done in an online graduate class on instructional design. With the help of the university's service-learning program, a community issue was identified related to encouraging underserved populations to pursue STEM careers. Graduate students developed a data analysis from surveying high school students, designed and implemented a website where information about specific careers can be found, and evaluated the project with the help of a high school science teacher. The project also required that the graduate students reflected about the service activity to gain a deeper understanding of course objectives. The course instructor and graduate students' experiences during this service-learning project are discussed.
Service learning opportunities need not be limited to the traditional classroom. Electronic service learning (e-service learning), also known as online service learning, breaks free from geographic restrictions and can take place anywhere students have Internet access. With over 6.7 million students enrolled in online courses through American universities, integrating e-service learning into the online environment can enrich the education of this growing number of online students. Coupled with virtual teamwork, e-service learning provides students with unique leadership opportunities that transcend the traditional classroom. Along with benefits there are also challenges associated with both e-service and virtual teamwork. This chapter focuses on the benefits and challenges of e-service learning in virtual teamwork, sources for e-service opportunities, and instructional design strategies to equip instructors with the tools for implementing this valuable learning experience.
Service Learning is the new buzz word on college campuses today, and many programs lack strategic course design nor build in a reflection component to ensure or at least attempt to engineer "deep learning" for their participants. The creation of service learning opportunities requires planning, implementation and evaluation of course design, as well as creating community partnerships that can withstand the test of time. This paper will explore the two major service learning opportunities that have been developed for fashion majors, and their impact on the students that have participated. One of the courses has taken place in Guatemala working with indigenous women for the past three years, and attempts to take traditional weaving skills and apply them to contemporary fashion items that can be sold for a "fair labor wage". Students spend time in the classroom learning at their home campus as well as time in Guatemala, working and learning with the Mayan women. The second course was developed around the philanthropic arm of the pediatric oncology unit of the university's medical campus, ASK. Students created the print or surface design for a pajama or loungewear item that would be developed in the following semester. The loungewear items were "port friendly" allowing young patients an alternative to a hospital gown as well as an item of clothing designed specifically to adapt for receiving chemotherapy without the removal of their clothing. This paper will compare and contrast the planning process, the implementation and the community and learning outcomes of both of these projects. © Common Ground, Karen Videtic, All Rights Reserved, Permissions.
There is an inherent complexity and importance to achieving life transformations by intellectual means (Mezirow, 1991). Such educational journeys take place in many different forms in applied instructional settings in which learning is experientially based; such processes take on particularly unique qualities when facilitated in virtual environments. When utilized creatively technologies have the capability to enhance educational experiences beyond individual learning, extending the construction of knowledge within an outreach framework to, for example, participants' local and regional communities. The following chapter explores the capacity for transformative learning inherent in experientially-based education, specifically within service-learning contexts, and the methods by which such experiences can be facilitated in web-based academic settings.
This paper reports on the assessment of initial data from an ongoing, award-winning service learning project called "Computer Training for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities." The project was researched, designed, and implemented by Masters in Library Science (MLIS) students at a large southeastern university. The two explicit goals of the project were to assess the effectiveness of the core curriculum in preparing students to undertake such a project and to provide technology literacy to clients with intellectual disabilities. However, the three implicit goals were to benefit the students, the clients, and the community partner through the process of engagement. The data reported are based on the first eighteen months of the project and are gathered from an exercise mapping the students' perceptions of the usefulness of the core curriculum, their written reflections concerning their participation in the project, and their records concerning client progress through the instruction. The student data are corroborated through an interview session with the community partner. The methods and results reflect a qualitative text analysis protocol since the first phase of the project was exploratory and the population was limited. Quantitative data reflect only simple descriptive statistics due to sample size and lack of comparative data. Results indicate that the goals of the original project are being met, and other corollary effects, such as students' attitudes concerning underrepresented populations were affected positively and constructively. We also identify necessary revisions and challenges as the project progresses, and numerous avenues for further research.
Institutions of higher learning around the nation have embraced the concept of student civic engagement as part of their curricula, a movement that has spurred administrators in various fields to initiate programs as part of their disciplines. In response, sign language interpreting educators are attempting to devise service-learning programs aimed at Deaf communities. Except for a smattering of journal articles, however, they have had no primary guide for fashioning these programs. Sherry Shaw remedies this in her new book Service Learning in Interpreter Education: Strategies for Extending Student Involvement in the Deaf Community. Shaw begins by outlining how to extend student involvement beyond the field experience of an internship or practicum and suggests how to overcome student resistance to a course that seems atypical. She introduces the educational strategy behind service-learning, explaining it as a tool for re-centering the Deaf community in interpreter education. She then provides the framework for a service-learning course syllabus, including establishing Deaf community partnerships and how to conduct student assessments. Service Learning in Interpreter Education concludes with first-person accounts from students and community members who recount their personal and professional experiences with service learning. With this thorough guide, interpreter education programs can develop stand-alone courses or modules within existing coursework.
This chapter explains how mindfulness provides an avenue for fostering transformational learning by increasing an individual's awareness of, and openness to, experience. In doing so, this position calls into question long-held assumptions regarding the roles that disruptive events and critical reflection play as necessary requisites to transformational learning. The chapter discusses those mechanisms through which mindfulness helps individuals overcome constraints to openness to experience, such as staying engaged within challenging life experiences, reducing defensiveness to new information about the self, maintaining greater emotional regulation during stressful events, and disidentifying with negative thoughts and emotions. Finally, attention is given to how the extended use of mindful practice can lead to long-term changes in human functioning, such as encouraging productive coping patterns and fostering changes in brain functionality, that are associated with sustained attention and reduced reactivity to long-term stressors, and which have important implications for the process of adult development.
Abstract: We present here three learning innovation experiences within the course " Initiation to Professional Skills " , a first year course of the Social Work undergraduate degree of the University of Alicante. Objectives: 1) Getting service users involved in teaching roles, considering them experts by their personal experience with Social Workers and society in general 2) Provide with a learning environment that promotes getting to know, understand and learn how to communicate with service users. Methodology: Meaningful learning based on the interaction with service users in three modalities: a) Collaborative design of teaching and learning activities between a social entity and the teaching staff of the course " Initiation to Professional Skills " of the Social Work undergraduate degree of the University of Alicante b) A multidisciplinary approach design including Social Work teaching staff, Physical Activity and Sport Science teaching staff, and the social entity c) International design with participation of Queen's University, Belfast (Northern Ireland) (project leader), together with the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and the University of Alicante. The results of these experiences provide with evidence supporting the relevance of the teaching role of experts by their experience, and also of the implementation of methodologies based on meaningful learning for acquiring competences.
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Teachers are an important influence on students’ learning, and therefore the opportunity for teachers to learn and develop is something of interest to educators internationally. This article reports on a research project involving six primary school teachers who participated in one-on-one and small group interviews to explore the opportunities for professional learning bound up in their daily work in classrooms. The findings highlight that teachers’ day-to-day stories are a source of professional learning. These stories are uniquely contextualised within diverse classrooms and schools. When teachers tell a story they use narrative to capture and structure their experiences, describe the specific details of the teaching situation and explain the reasons behind the actions and decisions taken during practice. What teachers learn from interpreting their narratives is as varied and infinite as the experiences from which they are created. The way the everyday is organised and interpreted by teachers in schools and classrooms is something to which policy-makers and school administrators should be very attentive because it can make a positive difference to both student and teacher learning.
This article explores the use of critical reflection to facilitate the construction of knowledge resulting from participation in e-service-learning courses. Such an instructional approach integrates an interdisciplinary curricular framework with site-specific service-learning opportunities resulting in an environment richer and more accessible through the use of technology. By facilitating the reflection process through this combination of service learning pedagogy and an online course format, students are empowered to both assess individual learning goals as well as collaborate with others to make meaning of their individual service-learning experience. Results from this study indicate that students felt reflection was essential to learning through gaining multiple perspectives and being introduced to a diversity of ideas.
The process of developing electronic teaching portfolios can be used to evaluate the teacher’s competency and guide a long-term professional development. This paper addressed the issue of assessment that is linked to the demand for accountability and standards through use of ePortfolio system. The ePortfolio system is then used as an authentication measure for students’ work. The study survey is based on two groups selected from a local university; one group used paper portfolio and the other used electronic portfolio. Data was then analyzed from these two perspectives and digital story telling. EPortfolio development involved defining goals and context of the case, the collection of artifacts, selecting relevant information, showing a reflection and a projection of how the results are produced. Results showed that ePortfolios can be easy to be designed and implemented as a learning tool.
This article describes a case study of adult learning in a Canadian multisite Community Cardiovascular Hearts in Motion program. The researcher highlights the informal learning of 40 adult participants in this 12-week community-based cardiac rehabilitation/education program in five rural Nova Scotia communities. The effects of this learning and barriers are examined, along with aspects of program design and facilitation that support learning and transformation. The researcher points to the role of emotion in this transformative learning process, and links are made between individual and collective processes in the transformative learning. Transformative learning theorists and health and adult education practitioners can see in this case study how individual and collective health interests can be incorporated into program planning for the community. © 2013 American Association for Adult and Continuing Education.
In this article, we argue that prior learning assessment (PLA) essays manifest a series of issues central to composition research and practice: they foreground the "contact zone" between the unauthorized writer, institutional power, and the articulation of knowledge claims; they reinforce the central role of a multifaceted approach to writing expertise in negotiating that zone; and they call attention to new and alternative spaces in which learning is gained and call for new forms in which it may be articulated. Ultimately, we claim that PLA as an emergent discourse compels compositionists to re-imagine not only the students we all teach, but also ways we might better—more explicitly, more reflectively, and more tactically—teach such students about writing as a mechanism for claiming and legitimating learning.
Aquest article exposa les bases teòriques i l’estudi diagnòstic que fonamenten l’elaboració i l’aplicació d’un programa de formació, específicament dissenyat per a dones, per promoure una participació activa. El programa, que inclou vint-i-dues activitats organitzades en cinc blocs temàtics, busca crear i promoure espais de participació on es fomenti el dret i la responsabilitatd de participar, s’adquireixin les competències ciutadanes necessàries per tenir presència activa a l’espai públic, i es promogui un tipus d’identitat cívica a partir del diàleg i les relacions que es generen entre les persones participants.
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Cet article a pour but d’exposer les bases théoriques et l’étude diagnostique qui fondent l’élaboration ainsi que l’application d’un programme de formation, tout spécialement conçu pour les femmes, visant à promouvoir une participation active. Le programme comprend vingt-deux activités organisées en cinq blocs thématiques et il cherche à créer et à promouvoir des espaces de participation dans lesquels sont développés le droit ainsi que la responsabilité de participer, où l’on peut acquérir les compétences citoyennes nécessaires pour avoir une présence active dans l’espace public, et où l’on promeut un type d’identité civique à partir du dialogue et des relations qui se développent parmi les personnes participantes.
Many teachers use their own work as the basis for research and this can be a complex and confronting task. It demands merging the roles of teacher, researcher and research participant. These roles may not speak with one voice. Some voices are faint, mere echoes; other voices convey a more confident sense of the different roles. This paper draws on a range of autobiographical vignettes that were used to bring together the fractured voices that emerged during an inquiry-focused research project in a primary school. The paper contributes to understandings about the place and practice of using autobiographical writing in teachers’ professional learning and argues that autobiographical vignettes can provide a starting point for enhancing learning by acting as a catalyst for reflection and self-study. Self-knowledge is vital for teachers because it paves the way for shaping and continuing to shape what teachers know about themselves as learners and what they might learn about teaching.
The value of reflection on experience to enhance learning has been advanced for decades; however, it remains difficult to apply in practice. This paper describes a reflection model that pushes students beyond superficial interpretations of complex issues and facilitates academic mastery, personal growth, civic engagement, critical thinking, and the meaningful demonstration of learning. Although developed in a service-learning program, its general features can support reflection on a range of experiences. It is accessible to both students and instructors, regardless of discipline; and it generates written products that can be used for formative and summative assessment of student learning.
Mindfulness, achieved without meditation, is discussed with particular reference to learning. Being mindful is the simple act of drawing novel distinctions. It leads us to greater sensitivity to context and perspective, and ultimately to greater control over our lives. When we engage in mindful learning, we avoid forming mind-sets that unnecessarily limit us. Many of our beliefs about learning are mind-sets that have been mindlessly accepted to be true. Consideration is given to some of the consequences that result from a mindful reconsideration of those myths of learning.
A systematic approach to encouraging reflection can help students get the most out of service-learning courses.
Despite the widespread adoption of reflective practices across many fields of study, a critical analysis of the concept of reflection and its application within higher education has been lacking. This article provides an examination of several major theoretical approaches to reflection including those of Dewey; Loughran; Mezirow; Seibert and Daudelin; Langer; Boud, Keogh and Walker; and Schn. Commonalties in terminology, definitions, antecedents, context, process, outcomes, and techniques to foster reflection are addressed. The implications of the findings for higher education are explained.
Attempts by researchers and policy-makers to address the ‘wicked’ issues which pervade environmental policy usually revolve around attempting – or recommending – both more participatory and transparent, and more systematic and evidence-based, policy-making. Post-normal science (PNS), with its ‘extended peer community’, has emerged as one approach, whilst others focus on procedural reforms of the policy process, particularly on enhancing democratic decision-making. This paper applies a novel analytical framework to a primarily documentary analysis of three cases we argue are wicked—Canadian regulatory review of health products and food, European union (EU) environmental thematic strategies, and United Kingdom (UK) energy and climate change policy. It explores how various responses to wicked issues are implemented, through the ‘lenses’ of PNS and, more generally, ‘democratic and effective decision-making’. It finds such responses are often limited by practical and fundamental barriers relating to handling of uncertainty, issue framing, participation, power, politics, and attitude to evidence. We draw conclusions about future research on PNS, particularly the need to more clearly relate theory to different strands of literature on the evidence–policy-making relationship, and to continue empirical testing.
Experience and Educationis the best concise statement on education ever published by John Dewey, the man acknowledged to be the pre-eminent educational theorist of the twentieth century. Written more than two decades after Democracy and Education(Dewey's most comprehensive statement of his position in educational philosophy), this book demonstrates how Dewey reformulated his ideas as a result of his intervening experience with the progressive schools and in the light of the criticisms his theories had received. Analysing both "traditional" and "progressive" education, Dr. Dewey here insists that neither the old nor the new education is adequate and that each is miseducative because neither of them applies the principles of a carefully developed philosophy of experience. Many pages of this volume illustrate Dr. Dewey's ideas for a philosophy of experience and its relation to education. He particularly urges that all teachers and educators looking for a new movement in education should think in terms of the deeped and larger issues of education rather than in terms of some divisive "ism" about education, even such an "ism" as "progressivism." His philosophy, here expressed in its most essential, most readable form, predicates an American educational system that respects all sources of experience, on that offers a true learning situation that is both historical and social, both orderly and dynamic.
Se presentan estrategias para desarrollar atributos de pensamiento creativo.
Recently, the psychological construct mindfulness has received a great deal of attention. The majority of research has focused on clinical studies to evaluate the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions. This line of research has led to promising data suggesting mindfulness-based interventions are effective for treatment of both psychological and physical symptoms. However, an equally important direction for future research is to investigate questions concerning mechanisms of action underlying mindfulness-based interventions. This theoretical paper proposes a model of mindfulness, in an effort to elucidate potential mechanisms to explain how mindfulness affects positive change. Potential implications and future directions for the empirical study of mechanisms involved in mindfulness are addressed.
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