International Immersion in Belize: Fostering Counseling Students’ Cultural Self-Awareness

International cultural immersion provides an in vivo, authentic, cross-cultural experience that can enhance multicultural awareness, knowledge and skills. This article examines the impact of an international immersion on graduate counseling students’ cultural self-awareness using a qualitative approach. Five graduate counseling students participated in a 3-week study abroad in Belize where they interacted with persons from diverse cultural backgrounds and settings. Four major cultural self-awareness themes emerged from the analysis of participants’ journals, (a) discrimination and prejudice, (b) cultural pride and appreciation, (c) cultural sensitivity, and (d) self-awareness. The findings are presented along with implications for future research and the use of international immersion as a viable experiential teaching strategy to enhance counseling students’ cultural self-awareness.     

‘I wouldn’t have been culturally safe’: health science students’ experiences of transformative learning within Indigenous Studies

ABSTRACT

Despite a significant body of literature espousing the transformative impacts of Australian Indigenous Studies curriculum upon students, there remains a limited body of work related to how these students experience and learn within this complex environment. This is particularly notable for research aligned with Mezirow’s transformative learning theory. Reporting on a qualitative study, this paper offers a perspective into students’ transformative experiences within a tertiary first-year Indigenous Studies health course. Thirteen non-Indigenous students were interviewed about their learning experiences within this context. Explicitly framed by Mezirow’s transformative learning theory, thematic analysis findings suggest students consistently experience precursor steps to transformative learning including disorienting dilemmas, self-examination with guilt or shame, critical reflection on assumptions, exploration of new roles, and trying on new roles. The manifestation of these steps highlights the ways in which students experience learning in this space, and a range of elements influencing this – from students’ own positioning and approaches to learning, to the nature of the curricular and pedagogical approaches. This study offers nuanced insight into the complexity of students’ transformative learning experiences, suggesting students hold a range of contradictory perspectives at any one time. If curricular models are to be effective for the broader student body, we propose that (1) the complex intersection of students’ identity development, need for group belonging, learning approach, limitations in existing knowledge and capacity for complex thought requires further consideration in this context, and (2) greater institutional investment is necessary in both the development of educators in this space, and educational opportunities beyond first-year, lest we risk reinforcing extant beliefs and paradigms held by non-Indigenous Australians about Indigenous Australians, and a continuation of the health disparities these curricular offerings are designed to alleviate.     

Facilitating deep-strategy behaviors and positive learning performances in science inquiry activities with a 3D experiential gaming approach

ABSTRACT

Facilitating students’ deep-strategy behaviors and positive learning performances of science inquiry is an important and challenging educational issue. In this study, a contextual science inquiry approach is proposed for developing a 3D experiential game to cope with this problem. To evaluate the impacts of the game on students’ science learning approaches, learning achievements and problem-solving awareness as well as the learning behavioral patterns of the students with different learning achievements, a quasi-experiment was conducted in an elementary school geoscience course. The participants were two classes of sixth graders. One class was the experimental group who learned with the 3D experiential game, and the other was the control group who learned with the conventional technology-enhanced learning approach. The experimental results showed that the students learning with the 3D experiential gaming system showed better learning achievements, problem-solving tendency, deep learning strategies, and deep learning motive than those who learned with the conventional technology-enhanced learning approach. Moreover, the higher-achievement students showed more behavioral patterns of deep learning strategies than the lower-achievement students. The findings of this study provide a good reference for helping lower-achievement students improve their learning performance.     

Integrating Work–Life Balance with 24/7 Information and Communication Technologies: The Experience of Adult Students With Online Learning

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the online learning experience as related to work–life balance from the student’s perspective. Four open-ended discussion questions were asked of 302 students in sixteen graduate business courses, over a three-year period. Two hundred and ten students voluntarily responded with their observations and perceptions of their personal online learning experience and how this experience impacted their work/life/school balance. This paper, using content analysis and qualitative coding, is focused on understanding the student’s perception of how online learning impacts their work–life balance, especially as compared to brick-and-mortar classroom learning. This paper concludes that online learning can enhance work–life balance for most students, especially when compared to the alternative of traditional fixed time and place classroom learning.     

Application of experiential learning to improve student engagement and experience in a mechanical engineering course

ABSTRACT

This paper introduced how a mechanical engineering course was redesigned by applying experiential learning theory to improve student engagement and learning experience. Design of machine elements has been considered by students to be a difficult course. Traditional teaching methods tend not to be effective in engaging students. Experiential learning is a philosophy of learning by doing. In applying an experiential learning approach to the course, the design project and workshop activities were restructured in such a way that students were engaged in direct experience and focused reflection to construct knowledge. By exploring a physical gearbox model, working on subtasks for the design project, having group discussions, raising questions, getting feedback, and moving forward for next subtasks, students experienced the learning cycles of ‘DO, OBSERVE, THINK, and PLAN’ many times. Course survey results showed that application of experiential learning helped to improve student engagement and learning experience significantly.     

Exploring MBA Students’ Preferences for Experiential Learning

In 1992, the writer presented a core MBA subject about strategic management which used experiential learning as the major educational strategy, at an Australian university. At the start and end of the subject, students were surveyed about their preferences for the applied/theoretical orientation and the lecturer/student locus for the subject. This paper's aim is to explore how those preferences changed and why, using quantitative and qualitative information provided by the students. Generally speaking, the subject was well received and matched students’ expectations and ideals on the two dimensions. Moreover, their preferences for experiential learning grew as their experience of it increased through the semester. The experiential methods of case analyses and role plays were especially useful in explaining these preferences. However, the students apparently consider their management development to be more multi‐faceted than the two dimensions would indicate, involving various structures and forms of involvement within a context that is realistic to them. Implications for team learning and learning about experiential learning are developed.     

Exploring an experiential learning project through Kolb's Learning Theory using a qualitative research method

Experiential learning pedagogy is taking a lead in the development of graduate attributes and educational aims as these are of prime importance for society. This paper shows a community service experiential project conducted in China. The project enabled students to serve the affected community in a post-earthquake area by applying their knowledge and skills. This paper documented the students’ learning process from their project goals, pre-trip preparations, work progress, obstacles encountered to the final results and reflections. Using the data gathered from a focus group interview approach, the four components of Kolb's learning cycle, the concrete experience, reflection observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation, have been shown to transform and internalise student's learning experience, achieving a variety of learning outcomes. The author will also explore how this community service type of experiential learning in the engineering discipline allowed students to experience deep learning and develop their graduate attributes.     

Higher learning: impacts of a high-altitude adventure-based field school on college student development

ABSTRACT

Student learning can be enhanced through applied experience of theoretical knowledge. The purpose of this study was to identify and articulate personal and educational impacts experienced by students during a mentally and physically challenging international adventure-based field school. Nineteen students and two faculty members participated in a three-week applied course exploring the effects of altitude on human health and performance through an adventure sport expedition in the Andean Mountains of Bolivia, South America. The field school design was intended to optimize student learning through cross-disciplinary applied curriculum and research. Written journal assignments, data from physiological and psychological measures and researcher observations were included in the analysis. Findings suggest that altering environmental conditions and applying ‘real-world conditions’ can promote student growth and learning. Implications for field school design, pedagogical considerations and college administration of field schools are discussed.     

Towards Good Practice in Community‐Based Arts Education in Hong Kong

Through the participation of local communities in the arts, Community‐Based Arts Education (CBAE) raises awareness of ecology and the environment, and also facilitates the search for and establishment of a socio‐cultural identity. It provides students with specific forms of experiential learning involving out‐of‐classroom experiences. Since 2003 the Education Bureau in Hong Kong has promoted learning arts in the community in an informal arts educational context. To suit the needs of CBAE, since 2011 the Leisure and Cultural Services Department has offered four successful community‐based arts educational schemes to local primary and secondary students. The aim of the schemes is to enrich students’ knowledge of arts and culture and strengthen their capacities to learn arts appreciation and criticism. Between 2011 and 2013, over 30,000 primary and secondary students participated in the schemes. This article reports on a study of the schemes which aimed to identify key elements of good practice in CBAE from students’ and teachers’ perspectives. In this larges‐cale study, a total of 15,430 students between Primary 1 and Secondary 6 (age 6 to 17) and 1,306 teachers who participated in the schemes were invited to take part in surveys and focus group interviews. The results show that the three central tenets of self‐determination theory, namely, competence, autonomy and relatedness, are the key elements of good practice in CBAE. It is hoped that the research findings will enrich existing knowledge of and provide a new research direction for CBAE.     

Kurt Hahn’s moral equivalent of war

Kurt Hahn’s educational thought is less well‐known than the educational institutions he established. This article analyses Hahn’s educational ideas through a reading of his speeches and limited writings, and sketches the historical context in which these ideas developed. Although his aristocratic background resulted in a thoroughly conservative worldview, he developed a largely progressive educational practice focusing on active ‘Samaritan service’ and experiential learning, enabling students to discover the Christian purpose of life. Hahn’s notion of Samaritan service has been adopted, in secularised form, by the International Baccalaureate, and it is here where his lasting contribution to primary and secondary education lies.     

体验式学习中的情感参与:SVVR支持写作学习的实证研究

写作学习中普遍存在学生因缺少对真实情境的体验而难以唤起写作兴趣的问题,如何改善学生的情境体验和情感参与成为改善写作学习效果的关键。在基于球面视频虚拟现实(SVVR)技术构建的体验式写作学习环境中,通过融入体验式学习理念与引导策略,设计了包含具体化经验、反思性观察、抽象化概念、评价与修正四阶段的写作学习活动,并将其运用于教学实践。实证分析结果表明:除思维创新性外,基于SVVR的体验式写作学习环境对学生写作的主题契合性、结构完整性和语言表达具有促进作用,并能够提升学生的情感参与水平;在SVVR的支持下,高情感参与水平的学生有更佳的写作表现,特别是在作品的结构完整性、语言表达与思维创新性上;相较于传统写作学习环境,在基于SVVR的体验式写作学习环境中,学生的阅读习惯与写作成绩间呈现出更强的相关性。可见,SVVR支持下的体验式学习有助于促进学生的情感参与和阅读积累向写作能力的迁移,实现对写作学习效果的提升。同时,有必要强化基于SVVR的智能交互和多感官体验,并将其与教学过程有机整合。     

“从经验中学习”:涵义、价值与高职教育的操作策略

在职业教育教学中进行"从经验中学习",有利于学生掌握工作过程知识,有利于提高学生自主学习的能力,有利于增加学生的就业机会。当前在我国高职院校开展"从经验中学习",还存在着将工作过程知识理解为简单的操作性经验,学生所学内容缺乏工作知识含量等方面问题。高职院校应深度挖掘工作过程知识,开发课程与教学内容;开发与设计学习型实训场所与岗位;建立专兼职相结合的教师"实践共同体",实现培养学生综合职业能力的目的。     

Vietnamese Students’ Learning Motivations for Master’s Programmes: Implications for Curriculum Development and Pedagogical Practice

Abstract

The number of students who enrol in Master’s programmes has significantly increased in recent years; however, their learning motivations have not been adequately investigated, especially those from developing countries. This article reports a two-phased study that investigated Vietnamese students’ learning motivations for attending Master’s programmes. Qualitative content analysis of 10 open-ended questionnaires as well as exploratory factor analysis of 202 survey responses showed that students were inspired by 14 learning motivations related to employment, knowledge and skills, new adventure and some miscellaneous motivations. Independent samples T-tests results indicated significant differences in the learning motivations between student groups with different age ranges, work experience, nature of their work, targeted Master’s programme (local or international) and sources of funding of their studies. The study also found that their learning motivations were closely related to the Confucian educational and cultural values. This article discusses implications for curriculum development and pedagogical practice for effective Master’s programmes.     

Encountering the past in the present: An exploratory study of educational heritage tourism

This article presents an educational programme designed to explore the multicultural history of Poland. Targeting Jewish and non-Jewish students of Polish heritage, the Polonia Programme (PP) was conceptualised with the aim of applying the tools of experiential education to initiate a new approach to examining one of the world’s most challenging and fraught historical narratives. The programme, piloted in the summer of 2014, takes two groups of young people from the United States to Poland each year. It features a combination of formal lectures and interactive tours, complemented by structured and semi-structured discussions. The destination of this particular tour, with these particular participants, both challenges and reinforces accepted notions of “heritage tourism” within an experiential educational framework. This framework enables a sense of group connectivity which allows students to be, perhaps, more open to alternative narratives about the past. The authors of this article, who were involved in evaluating the pilot launch of the Polonia Programme, found that the programme’s experiential approach succeeded in encouraging participants in the pilot cohort to challenge ideas about their definitions of and preconceptions about “who and what counts as Polish”. For many, the experience shifted their understanding of Poland towards one which took its multi-ethnic and multicultural history into account. Several discovered new perspectives on their own identity and heritage, while others reached a new understanding of the shared histories of Poles and Jews. The experiential nature of this programme also allowed students to encounter difficult histories: experience, then, became a vehicle for more challenging conversations and deeper learning.     

漫谈小学语文教学中体验式学习的应用

在新课程背景下,体验式学习模式成了小学语文教学的重要途径。小学语文教师要善于引导学生进行体验式学习,营造开放、轻松的语文学习氛围,开展形式丰富的课堂体验活动,激发小学生的学习兴趣,陶冶小学生的道德情操,提高学生的语文运用能力。本文结合实际小学语文教学经验,先分析了体验式学习的特点,进而论述了体验式学习在小学语文教学中的应用策略。     

Expeditionary Learning in Information Systems: Definition,Implementation, and Assessment

In the natural sciences, collecting, cataloguing, and comparing living specimens have long been a popular, collaborative mode of discovery and learning. New species are discovered, and the relationships between species are theorized. From Aristotle's “History of Animals” to Darwin's “On the Origin of Species”, and beyond, this process of learning through expedition has yielded bountiful knowledge and insights to students of science. In this paper, we propose that expeditionary learning can be applied to a softer science: the field of information systems. In the field of information systems, specimens (information systems) are created by humans, evolving with great speed. Expeditionary learning—where students collaboratively discover, catalog, and compare rapidly evolving information system specimens—is an innovative approach for learners in the IS field, and is effective in increasing IS program visibility and delivering significant, measurable community impact. Our results indicate that learning by expedition has a strong, positive community impact through educating external learners (such as high school and community college students, and the general public), and compares favorably to conventional experiential and service learning styles. Though expeditionary learning does not yield improved course evaluations, we demonstrate that learners’ perceived self‐knowledge and intentions to pursue the subject area are improved.     

An analysis of knowledge representation of students in electronic problem tasks

This paper investigates the nature of learning outcomes of thirty six electronics students who were receiving training under the recent reform processes advocated by the Australian government. The reform processes place great emphasis on macro issues thereby unintentionally relegating the micro issues, such as learning in the classroom, to a lower priority. Such misdirected emphasis may hinder the development of an intelligent workforce. A multi method approach which involved a problem task, interviews and concept maps was used to establish the learning outcomes. The learning outcomes were analysed to identify the nature of students’ knowledge structures and the sophistication in their understanding of the topic “Frequency Division Multiplexing”. Students’ knowledge structures and levels of understanding were compared with those generated by 3 experts. The findings indicated a low level of understanding and a very lean knowledge structure with limited relational links to other elements in the given information. Furthermore, a comparison of students’ knowledge structures and levels of understanding was made between students with more than 2 years work experience and those coming to their course straight from secondary schools. The findings of this analysis did not support the argument that work experience enriches students’ knowledge and understanding, as students with no work experience performed better then the work experience students. Thus, there needs to be more empirical research on the nature of real work experience routines and how it affects learning rather than theorising on ideal work situations.     

体验式学习在职高政治课堂教学中的尝试

新课程标准明确提出了体验性目标。体验式学习注重学生自身的体验,通过引导学生实践、感悟,让学生真正参与到课堂中来。职高政治课堂中以小组辩论、竞赛游戏、角色扮演、情境设置、调查实践、创业设计等方式开展体验式学习的内容,有助于培养学生各项能力。