Bringing Meaning to Learning: An Interdisciplinary Project for First-Year Community College Students

2020 ◽  
pp. 009862832097987
Author(s):  
Brandi Rima ◽  
Crystal C. Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Community College ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Academic Progress ◽  
First Year ◽  
Questionnaire Data ◽  
Interdisciplinary Project ◽  
Psychology Course

Interdisciplinary pedagogy can enhance Introduction to Psychology curricula. We developed an interdisciplinary project to make meaning in a learning community (LC) clustering Introduction to Psychology with Introduction to Criminal Justice. Our purpose is to describe the project as a model and report on students’ evaluations of the project and their academic progress. We collected questionnaire data about students’ experiences completing the project. Results were positive with most students valuing make meaning, feeling more connected to psychology and expressing satisfaction. We measured student learning using project grades and final grades in the psychology course. Participants performed satisfactory on the project and outperformed a comparison group in the Introduction to Psychology course. Findings demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary pedagogy in psychology curricula.

scholarly journals What Did We Learn?

2022 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 53-70
Author(s):  
Brandi Rima ◽  
Crystal Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Skill Development ◽  
Academic Progress ◽  
Academic Skill ◽  
Study Objective ◽  
Interdisciplinary Project ◽  
Psychology Course ◽  
Assessment Procedures

Assessment is critical to effectively implementing interdisciplinary pedagogy in higher education. We developed an interdisciplinary project for an Introduction to Psychology and Introduction to Criminal Justice learning community at an urban community college. The semester-long project involved completing a series of lessons and assignments in both courses. The study objective was to evaluate the extent to which the interdisciplinary project supported students’ learning, with attention to their academic skill development, progress on course learning outcomes, and academic progress in the psychology course. Data procedures included summative assessment of final paper submissions and collection of final paper grades and final grades in the psychology course across two cohorts of learning community students. Findings suggest the interdisciplinary project positively supported students’ academic skill development, progress on course learning outcomes, and overall success in the psychology course. These findings demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary teaching and assessment. We offer the interdisciplinary project and assessment procedures presented here as models for higher education faculty interested in interdisciplinary pedagogical approaches.

Including Student Voices in Instructional Design: Community College Students with Below-Proficient Skills Talk About IL Instruction

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Latham ◽  
Melissa Gross
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Community College ◽  
Instructional Design ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Voices ◽  
Skill Levels ◽  
First Year College ◽  
First Year College Students ◽  
Groupes De Discussion

First-year college students with below-proficient IL skill levels were identified through a standardized IL test. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with a subset of these students. This paper will focus on the findings of the focus groups and describe how these findings are informing the design of the intervention.Les étudiants universitaires de première année ayant une maîtrise de l'information inadéquate ont été identifiés au moyen d'un test normalisé sur la maîtrise de l'information. Des entrevues et des groupes de discussion se sont déroulés avec un sous-groupe de ces étudiants. Cette communication s'attarde aux résultats des groupes de discussion et décrit comment les résultats sont pris en compte dans la conception de l'intervention.

Motivational Effect of Well Dressed Teachers on College Students Who are Academically Deficient

1989 ◽  
Vol 64 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1181-1182
Author(s):  
Paul L. Allegrone
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Community College ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Local Community ◽  
First Year ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Motivational Effect ◽  
Evaluation Of Instruction ◽  
Academically Deficient

The importance of the teacher as a role model has not been listed on students' evaluation of instruction at a local community college, but research has shown that this is a concern for the motivation of first-year deficiency-level college students. This study surveyed students in deficiency-level classes on whether their motivation to learn is improved by having a well-dressed teacher (superficial role model). Both day and night students were not significantly motivated by the described teacher's dress. Night students were, however, significantly more motivated by the teacher's qualities (including dress) than were day students.

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