{"title":"The Benefits of Longitudinal Data and Multilevel Modeling to Measure Change in Adventure Education Research","authors":"Paul Shirilla, C. Solid, Suzanne Graham","doi":"10.1177/10538259211027595","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10538259211027595","url":null,"abstract":"Background: A common critique of adventure education research methodology is the overreliance on pre-/post-study designs to measure change. Purpose: This paper compares and contrasts two methods of data analysis on the same adventure education data set to show how these distinct approaches provide starkly different results and interpretation. Methodology/Approach: Using secondary data analysis, we employ a longitudinal data set of the social skill development of urban middle school students who participated in an adventure education program over the course of three academic years. First, change was assessed using a pre-/post-design by a traditional analysis of variance (ANOVA). Next, change was assessed with a six-wave, longitudinal design using multilevel modeling. Findings/Conclusions: Results show that the multilevel modeling approach revealed nonlinear change in the social skill development of middle school students, resulting in more accurate, nuanced estimation of change in social skill development than the ANOVA approach. Implications: The use of longitudinal data and multilevel modeling can be a useful methodological approach and statistical tool for adventure education researchers to not only address the criticisms of quantitative research in adventure education, but more importantly, provide a more thorough understanding of the impact of adventure education on human development.","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"75 1","pages":"88 - 109"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90382973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Organizational Complexities of Experiential Education: Institutionalization and Logic Work in Higher Education","authors":"Emerson LaCroix","doi":"10.1177/10538259211028987","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10538259211028987","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Universities continue to experience pressure to prepare work-ready graduates. In Ontario, this has recently taken the form of new provincial funding metrics which include experiential education. This places more formal pressure on all provincial universities to foster experiential education. Purpose: This study focuses on the organizational dynamics within a selected university as it developed an Experiential Education Certificate (EEC). Methodology/Approach: Using a qualitative approach, this case study relies on multiple methods. Content analysis was used to analyze textual data that framed the EEC. Semi-structured interviews (n = 12) with institutional actors were used to analyze how experiential education is framed administratively and practiced at the technical level of the university. Findings/Conclusions: Although the EEC reflected a management logic, it was not fully aligned with the academic logic of ground-level technical actors (e.g., professors). Institutionalizing experiential education has implications for multiple logics at play within universities and thus requires more “logic work” of those working within. Implications: This exploratory study lays the groundwork for further theorizing experiential education from an organizational perspective, namely, studying experiential education across disciplines, theorizing at the field level, and including administrators.","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"32 1","pages":"157 - 171"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75125717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transformative Design Pedagogy: Teaching Biophilic Design Through Experiential Learning","authors":"G. Ebbini","doi":"10.1177/10538259211019088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10538259211019088","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Biophilia is becoming an important theme in contemporary design practice. Research in this area has demonstrated measurable improvements in human health and wellbeing when built environments are able to connect people to nature. However, there is much debate about how design students can best learn to fluidly implement biophilic principles in their work. Purpose: This article describes an action research study conducted by design educators to evaluate experiential learning techniques in health care–focused interior design studio courses. The goal was to improve students’ creative synthesis in applying biophilic principles. Methodology/Approach: The author followed the four steps of action research—planning, action, observation, and reflection—in developing and evaluating a new experiential learning framework. An observational approach was used to assess student projects and the effectiveness of these teaching methods. Findings/Conclusions: Students who participated in the experiential learning activities demonstrated a relatively higher degree of holistic integration of biophilic principles in their design projects. Implications: While the observational findings are provisional evidence, these results provide insights into the advantages that experiential pedagogies may have in helping students to integrate and apply design knowledge. The ability to connect biophilic design principles to direct personal experiences appears to enhance creative synthesis in student work.","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"131 1","pages":"7 - 31"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77606708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Contribution Transport Time Makes to Outdoor Programs: A Third Place?","authors":"Chris North, Simon Beames, Toby Stanton, B. Chan","doi":"10.1177/10538259211019087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10538259211019087","url":null,"abstract":"Background: During transport to and from outdoor education field trips, students experience a period of togetherness and minimal imposed structure. Transport time also appears to align with Oldenburg’s third places, where people spend time together without a particular agenda. Purpose: To examine educators’ perspectives on the contribution that transport time makes to OE programs through an analysis featuring the characteristics of third places. Methodology/Approach: The perspectives of 16 outdoor educators (four each from New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, and Scotland) were gathered using a semi-structured interview protocol. Data were analyzed using a deductive process based on the third place characteristics; four unforeseen themes also emerged. Findings/Conclusions: Findings highlighted the centrality of conversation between students and between students and educators; the low profile of transport time; and a sense of excitement and fun. Students controlled the intensity of their “presence” through the use of devices (where allowed) and by selecting their sitting position in the vehicle. Implications: The findings show that transport time allowed students to have a broad variety of conversations that could be variously silly and fun, deep and introspective. Educators are encouraged to more carefully consider the contribution that transport time makes to their programs.","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"65 1","pages":"191 - 208"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88287065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Senok, A. John-Baptiste, S. Heialy, N. Naidoo, F. Otaki, D. Davis
{"title":"Leveraging the Added Value of Experiential Co-Curricular Programs to Humanize Medical Education","authors":"A. Senok, A. John-Baptiste, S. Heialy, N. Naidoo, F. Otaki, D. Davis","doi":"10.1177/10538259211021444","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10538259211021444","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The aftermath of the 1910 Flexner report resulted in significant gaps in the structure of medical education. Experiential co-curricular opportunities can contribute to addressing these gaps. Purpose: To explore, from a holistic social constructionism perspective, the added value of a co-curricular program, designed and implemented based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory. Methodology/Approach: In this case study, randomly selected medical students, who had participated in an experiential co-curricular program, undertook focus group sessions. Data were inductively analyzed using thematic analysis based on constructivist epistemology. Findings/Conclusions: Benefits at the individual/student level included three interlinked themes: personal, academic, and professional development. The personal development theme related to building character and resilience, and the academic development theme related to application of theory and previously acquired knowledge. Four categories surfaced within the professional development theme. Emergent categories at the community level were institutional advancement, contribution to host centers, and giving back to the community. Implications: Co-curricular programs, that are based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and that foster learning as participation in the social world, humanize medical education, and nurture holistic millennial physicians.","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"41 1","pages":"172 - 190"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88223474","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Participation Affects University Students’ Perspectives Toward Mandatory Service-Learning","authors":"S. Chan, G. Ngai, Cindy H. Y. Lam, K. Kwan","doi":"10.1177/1053825920948889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/1053825920948889","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Educators have divided and often strongly held views on whether service-learning should be required of all students. However, studies examining students’ view on mandatory service-learning are limited in the literature. Purpose: This article contrasts and examines students’ views toward a service-learning requirement at a Hong Kong university before and after attending a mandatory service-learning course, and any resulting changes. Methodology/Approach: This is a retrospective qualitative study using semistructured interviews. Participants were 49 students who completed a service-learning course in the 2013–2014 academic year. They were selected according to the nature of their performance in their completed course. Findings/Conclusions: Results show that students’ perspectives toward service-learning are not static but rather change dramatically as a result of their experiences. Most students, even those who recalled being initially negative or resigned, reported positive views toward service-learning after completing the course. Implications: Students’ initial resistance alone is not a reason for making service-learning optional. Some students have a negative view due to a lack of information or misinformation. Making it compulsory gives these students an opportunity to decide for themselves based on true experience, which, if implemented effectively, has the potential of nurturing initially hostile or inert students into more civic-minded citizens.","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"103 1","pages":"137 - 151"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74864803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Letter From the Editor","authors":"Jayson O. Seaman","doi":"10.1177/10538259211015100","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10538259211015100","url":null,"abstract":"In the first article of issue 44(2), Alan Ewert and Curt Davidson ask how outdoor and adventure education can help people adjust to a post-COVID landscape. They argue that adventure programs can help ameliorate stress and increase coping in a world of uncertainty and anxiety. The issues of risk and resilience are long-running themes in modern society (Beck, 1992), which COVID-19 has accentuated; researchers can start here to examine how adventure education will contribute to these issues in the future. Juan Pablo Román Calderón, Sara Aguilar-Barrientos, Juan Esteban Escalante, Jaime Barbosa, and Alejandro Arias examined how emotional intelligence shaped task performance in student work groups engaged in experiential learning in engineering. Readers will appreciate the study’s implications for workforce preparation in Latin America, insights into emotional intelligence, and understanding of experiential learning. Next, Stephen C. F. Chan, Grace Ngai, Cindy H. Y. Lam, and Kam Por Kwan inquired into the effects of mandatory service learning, finding students with an initial negative reaction to the mandate shifting to a positive impression following service engagement. The results should be heartening to individuals seeking to incorporate service learning into institutional programs, provided it follows principles of best practice. In Contemplative pedagogy: Fostering transformative learning in a critical service learning course, Paula Gardner used a narrative approach to examine an impressive number of written student reflections over 3 years. Gardner’s study reinforces the importance of critical reflection in promoting transformational learning and provides several suggestions on how instructors can incorporate it into their projects. In a highly complementary study, Jennifer K. Wesely explored similar themes in the context of a criminal justice course. Wesely focused specifically on emotions to understand how students can be prompted to work through them in support of critical thinking. The study provides a strong model of how to focus on core elements of experiential learning, specifically the important relationship between emotion and cognition during reflection. Finally, I personally appreciated how Lia Naor and Ofra Mayseless emphasized the role of nature in outdoor therapies, which often is taken for granted or treated as a backdrop during the therapeutic process. Instead of relegating it to a secondary role, they foregrounded how practitioners considered nature to be an active ingredient in outdoor-based therapies. Hopefully, the study encourages researchers to maintain it as a focus in the future. Readers of issue 44(2) are treated to seeing how experiential education is being implemented in a rich array of international and disciplinary contexts. Enjoy!","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"15 1","pages":"103 - 103"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89906771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Outward Bound Instructors’ Experience of Stress: Storms, Students, and Role Strain","authors":"G. McGovern","doi":"10.1177/10538259211012714","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10538259211012714","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Outward Bound (OB) provides experiential outdoor learning programs where students grow through overcoming challenges. Instructors leading these wilderness courses face numerous demands and situational conditions which may create stress. Purpose: This study sought to describe instructors’ experience of stress on OB courses with adolescents. Methodology/Approach: In semi-structured interviews, 31 OB instructors from two sites provided in-depth guided narratives of highly stressful course situations, which were analyzed using grounded theory methods. Findings/Conclusions: Findings indicated that instructors were stressed by unsafe and unpredictable situations (e.g., adverse weather, dangerous terrain, medical concerns) and student behavior, thoughts, and feelings (e.g., conflict, oppositional behavior, distress). Analysis also suggested that the internalization of role demands—for student safety, student learning, and control—intensified experiences of stress. Self-perceptions of failure to meet these role demands led to role strain. In addition, stress affected instructors’ functioning and their interactions with students. Implications: This study suggested several recommendations for OB and other youth-serving organizations. These include assessing the amount and types of stress instructors are experiencing on a regular basis and examining how these stressors might be reduced or mitigated by actors at multiple levels in the organization.","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"16 1","pages":"209 - 228"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90497739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Dissonant Methods: Undoing Discipline in the Humanities Classroom","authors":"M. Breunig","doi":"10.1177/10538259211009951","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10538259211009951","url":null,"abstract":"The book title is compelling and the contribution may be more timely than the editors could have anticipated as they describe pedagogy (and the nature of truth and existence itself) as dynamic. They suggest that one 21st-century challenge emerges from the “social erosion of the epistemological authority of science” (p. 60), stemming from vaccine refusals, global warming, and evolution deniers. They concluded this prior to any awareness of the impending COVID-19 pandemic that has now taken over our daily lives, including our academic spheres. The term “messy ecology” (p. 62) that Katja K. Pettinen adopts is thus particularly resonant relevant to this period of pandemic scholarship as both academics and students navigate the indeterminate and messy terrain of virtual teaching and learning.","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"562 1","pages":"110 - 111"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80554349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Undergraduates’ Motivation Following a Zoo Experience: Status Matters but Structure Does not","authors":"Ashley B. Heim, E. Holt","doi":"10.1177/10538259211012716","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10538259211012716","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Free-choice learning, which often takes place in settings such as zoos, is where the learner has autonomy to choose what, where, how, and with whom to learn. Currently, little is known about the potential of free-choice learning experiences at informal settings to engage undergraduates in biology. Purpose: We sought to explore how participation in structured versus free-choice learning experiences and a student’s status in their program relate to their motivation, interest, and self-regulation to learn biology after a zoo trip. Methodology/Approach: Students in both introductory and advanced biology courses were assigned to either a structured or free-choice learning group during a zoo visit. Participating students completed a set of surveys before and after the zoo trip to gauge their incoming self-regulation and changes in motivation and interest to learn biology. Findings/Conclusions: We found that advanced students reported higher intrinsic motivation to learn biology than introductory students. In addition, grade motivation decreased and self-efficacy increased after the zoo trip across all students. Implications: Ultimately, there may be numerous ways for instructors to make visits to the zoo and other informal settings more meaningful for undergraduates. Both structured and autonomous learning experiences offer benefits for students across program levels.","PeriodicalId":46775,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experiential Education","volume":"73 1","pages":"68 - 87"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2021-04-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77607254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}