2014 Integrative and Experiential Education Series

Presenters:

• Kelly Anthony (Teaching Fellow, Applied Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Systems)

In Fall 2010, during one of our first Integrative and Experiential Learning Series session, Dr. Kelly Anthony joined us to discuss how she had been able to make a Community Service learning opportunity available as an option to students in her course. In lieu of completing a more traditional assignment, students in her course have the option of working directly with a community group. Those who take this option are able enrich the classroom discussions and add details to the course readings.

During this session, Kelly discussed findings from a research project she and  Jenna Van Draanen, one of Kelly’s former students, undertook to determine if providing CSL opportunities for a small group of students who would then ‘peer-‘teach’ their classmates would enhance student experience and engagement in class for both CSL and non-CSL students without requiring the resources to coordinate volunteer service for an entire class.  The research project was funded by UW’s Learning Innovation and Teaching Enhancement (LITE).  During the session, participants discussed how these findings might inform the design and delivery of similar CSL opportunities in other courses or programs.  This presentation addressed the experiential education theme outlined in the University of Waterloo’s

Selected Resources

• Markus, G. B., Howard, J.P.F. and King, D.C. (1993). Integrating community service and Classroom Instruction Enhances Learning: Results from an Experiment." Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 15 (1993), 410-419
• Astin, A.W., Vogelgesang, L.J., Ikeda, E.K., and Ye, J.A. (2000). How service learning affects students.  Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles. January, http://gseis.ucla.edu/heri/PDFs/rhowas.pdf
• Eyler, J.S., Dwight, G., Stenson C.M. and Gray, C.J. (2001). At a glance: What we know about the effects of service-learning on college students, faculty, institutions, and communities, 1993-2000, Third Edition. Nashville: Vanderbilt University.
• Yoder, J. &Hochevar, C. (2005). Encouraging active learning can improve students’ performance on examinations. Teaching of Psychology, 32(2), 91-95

Presenters:

• Jill Tomasson Goodwin (Faculty of Arts- Digital Arts Communication Specialization program)
• Katherine Lithgow ( Centre for Teaching Excellence)
• Scott O’Neill (Marketing and Undergraduate Recruitment department)
• Rhiannon Ball (student in W2014 DAC 300 course)

During this presentation, we discussed how community-based learning and inquiry-based learning were integrated into a course to provide students with a rich learning experience. Jill Tomasson Goodwin worked with on-campus ‘community’ partner, (rather than off-campus one), to design a project where all students in her DAC 300 course, working in teams, researched and addressed the community partner’s real world problem. 

Jill along with her on-campus community partner, Scott O’Neill, and a student from her course, Rhiannon Ball, outlined their experiences and reflected on their own learning.  Jill explained her reasons for incorporating high impact and experiential learning strategies what fundamental changes in teaching roles and assessment strategies were made.  Scott explained why his office agreed to be a partner in the project, how the project supported student learning and what he and his staff learned from the students. Rhiannon shared how this course differed from other courses and how it impacted her learning experience. 

Resources

• Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are. Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter.  Association of American Colleges and Universities.
• Kuh, G. D. (2008). Excerpt from “High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter”. Association of American Colleges and Universities. 
• Kuh, G. D., O’Donnell, K., & Reed, S. (2013). Ensuring quality and taking high-impact practices to scale . Association of American Colleges and Universities.
• Lombardi, M. M. (2007). Authentic learning for the 21st century: An overview. Educause learning initiative,1(2007), 1-12. 

Presenters:

• Leeann Ferries (Recreation and Leisure Studies)
• Leanne Wright (student from the course Rec 351: Therapeutic Recreation Facilitation Techniques)

In the 2014 winter term Leeann Ferries introduced an ePortfolio component into her Rec 351: Therapeutic Recreation Facilitation Techniques course (class size - 49). Throughout the course, students participate in role playing exercises designed to help students gain experience facilitating and processing a variety of therapeutic recreation interventions with a variety of client groups. The ePortfolio was incorporated to help students’ develop their capacities to become reflective practitioners. Students created and collected weekly reflection responses to the various facilitation presentations.  The ePortfolio provided a safe space for students to share what they had learned about the facilitation techniques and to provide evidence of this learning. Furthermore, the ePortfolio component gave students the space and time to gain insight into their thoughts and feelings experienced during the learning process.

Findings from the Connect to Learning (C2L) ePortfolio research project indicate that “the value of ePortfolio for students depends on how it is implemented: the pedagogy and practices of faculty and staff, as well as broader support structures” (Eynon, Gambino & Torok, 2014, p. 96). 

During this session, Leeann Ferries shared her experience and lessons learned while integrating ePortfolios into her course for the first time- how she introduced the ePortfolios to the students, how she assessed the ePortfolio activity, what worked and what she’ll consider doing in the future.  Leeann Wright, a student from the Rec 351 course, shared her experience using ePortfolios and how the ePortfolio activity impacted her learning experience. Participants reviewed best practices to consider when incorporating ePortfolios, and discussed how they might use ePortfolios in their own course.

Resources

• Catalyst for Learning: ePortfolio Research and Resources
• Eynon, B., Gambino, L. M., & Török, J. (2014). What Difference Can ePortfolio Make? A Field Report from the Connect to Learning Project. International Journal, 4(1), 95-114. 
• Effectively Integrating ePortfolios- A model for student success
• See the Centre for Teaching Excellence website for more information on ePortfolios.