scholarly journals “The Power of Many Minds Working Together”: Qualitative Study of an Interprofessional, Service-Learning Capstone Course

Author(s):  
Sheila Adams Leander ◽  
S. Maggie Maloney ◽  
Irma Ruebling ◽  
Rebecca Banks ◽  
David Pole ◽  
...  

Background: An interprofessional faculty group analyzed a critical reflection assignment of students in a service-learning practicum interprofessional education (IPE) course. Students were from ten programs: physical therapy, occupational therapy, nuclear medicine technology, radiation therapy, athletic training, nursing, investigative medical science, cytotechnology, nutrition and dietetics, and clinical laboratory science. Research questions investigated what the assignments revealed about students’ application of beliefs, emotions, and behaviours, and if course objectives were met.Methods and Findings: This qualitative study retrospectively analyzed one critical reflection from the course conducted in 2011. Researchers selected a stratified sample of 40 assignments from a population of 278. Nine major themes emerged: achieving IPE outcomes, engaging in team process, learning culture/community engagement, being client/patient centred, becoming aware of behaviours, experiencing barriers, articulating beliefs, connecting with course objectives, and expressing emotions.Conclusions: In an IPE practicum course, transformative learning was evident. Students articulated beliefs, emotions, and behaviours related to interprofessional teamwork. Students expressed detailed understanding of team processes. For future research, critical reflection assignments were useful to assess student beliefs, emotions, and behaviours in a practicum course. We suggest studying practice among health professionals who have experienced IPE compared with those who have not had IPE in their professional curricula.

Author(s):  
Catherine A. Hansman

The purpose of this chapter is to examine and analyze the concepts of power, critical reflection, and potential for transformative learning in graduate mentoring models and programs, exploring research and models that reflect these concepts in their program design and “curriculum” for mentoring. The chapter concludes with an analysis of two mentoring models/programs and suggestions for future research and practice in mentoring in higher educational institutions that may lead to transformative learning among mentors and participants in these programs.


Author(s):  
Joellen E. Coryell ◽  
Trae Stewart ◽  
Zane C. Wubbena ◽  
Tereza Cristina Valverde-Poenie ◽  
B. J. Spencer

International Service-Learning (ISL) is a structured service-learning experience in another country where students learn from interaction, cross-cultural dialogue, and reflection. This humanistic pedagogy was utilized at the University of Canterbury after earthquakes rocked Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ) in 2010 and 2011. The present comparative-case study examined United States (US), European Union (EU), and Kiwi students' transformative learning through working together in a university-based ISL course designed around re-building Christchurch. Data were analyzed through the Kiely's (2005) Transformative Service-Learning Model. The findings of this study contribute new elements to the dimension of the model and argue that the concept of global citizenship may better explain a mixed cohort of international students' service-learning experiences in a post-disaster setting. Implications to the study's findings and recommendations for future research are briefly discussed.


Author(s):  
Megan Clark ◽  
Meredith McKague ◽  
Vivian R. Ramsden ◽  
Shari McKay

Abstract   Background  This Community Service-Learning Project (CSLP) at the University of Saskatchewan is designed to help students develop patient-centred care practices in urban underserved settings.  First-year medical and pharmacy students partner interprofessionally to both learn and serve, working with community-based organizations (CBOs) that primarily serve either low-income or newcomer residents of Saskatoon. Since the CSLP’s pilot year in 2005-2006, 98 first-year medical and pharmacy students have participated in the CSLP.       Methods and Findings  We evaluated the outcomes and processes of the CSLP since the 2006-2007 year, using mixed methods: end-of-project questionnaires; document analysis looking for key and recurrent themes; end-of-project semi-structured interviews with CBO coordinators and clients. We examined students’ experiences, including satisfaction, achievement of learning objectives, learning processes, and perceived outcomes. Students’ main learning outcomes related to client-centered approach, interprofessional attitudes and skills, and personal development. Various learnings related to program processes are reported.   Conclusions  Our evaluation reinforced findings from the literature on both interprofessional education and community service-learning, as well uncovering some new findings.   Students described a transformative learning experience that helped them begin to develop understanding and skills to work more effectively with clients in urban underserved settings.


Author(s):  
Maggie Hutchings ◽  
Anne Quinney ◽  
Janet Scammell

This chapter will consider the educational benefits and challenges of introducing e-learning objects within an interprofessional curriculum. It examines the tensions of curriculum development as content or process-driven in the context of facilitating interactive learning using blended learning strategies which combine online and face-to-face interactions. This chapter draws upon an evaluation of student and staff experiences of an interprofessional curriculum incorporating health and social care users and carers as case scenarios in a web-based simulated community, Wessex Bay, and highlights congruent and disruptive factors in negotiating transformative learning and cultural change. It draws conclusions and recommendations for informing practice in interprofessional education and suggests directions for future research to inform the substance (interprofessional case scenarios) and spaces (discussion boards, chat rooms, classroom) for collaborative learning in an interprofessional curriculum.


Author(s):  
Konstantin Mitgutsch

Players use digital games as playgrounds for their interests, passions, values, and beliefs. Computer games entertain us, please our needs, challenge our abilities, make us engage with other players, and confront us with novel experiences. Today, video games foster learning, but how players connect their learning through playing games to their biographies is a question yet unanswered. This paper outlines basic theoretical assumptions on playful learning experiences and empirical insights into meaningful learning patterns. On this basis it presents the central results of an innovative qualitative study on playful learning biographies undertaken in 2010, and thereby aims to provide a reflected understanding of how today’s generation experiences deep and meaningful learning in their playful biographies. Furthermore, this paper examines the question on how games foster transformative learning and discusses consequences for educational settings and future research.


Author(s):  
Karin Sprow Forte ◽  
David Blouin

This qualitative study examines evidence of transformative learning surrounding sociocultural issues in the K-12 classroom of in-service teachers, while participating in an online English as a Second Language (ESL) professional development program. Using inductive data analysis, precursors and catalysts to transformative learning were identified to understand the ways in which 24 purposefully sampled participants experienced learning. Areas explored included ways in which the candidates participated in critical reflection of their own perspectives, ways in which this process affected their meaning making of their experiences, potential for action in changing their practice as ESL educators, and transformative learning features present throughout their learning experiences. Findings reveal evidence of perspective shifts in this context that complement the professional dispositions identified as important for K-12 teachers: the importance of carefully choosing resource materials in professional development, and the necessity to encourage critical reflection in course activities.


Author(s):  
Ren Hullender ◽  
Shelly Hinck ◽  
Jeanneane Wood-Nartker ◽  
Travus Burton ◽  
Sue Bowlby

Abstract            A major shift in university course work involves activities outside the traditional classroom in which students are required to apply knowledge from the coursework in real-life service-learning environments. Such complex learning contexts generate a level of disequilibrium or anxiety that may or may not result in transformative learning.             This phenomenological study examined student reflective writings from an Honors service-learning course at a medium-sized mid-western university for evidences of transformative learning, the precipitating disequilibria, and the significant pedagogical structures underlying growth.            All students learned and all students encountered disquieting experiences; however, only half the participants exhibited varying levels of transformative learning.  Results indicate that transformative learning requires time, space, and appropriate scaffolding to develop or augment personal internal systems of adjusting what one thinks and how one thinks about new information and experiences.            The results further suggest that a framework of iterative service experiences, grounded in course content, readings, faculty-student-community dialogue, and continuous, thoughtfully designed, reflective practice can maximize transformative learning potentials. Future research should continue to explore how service-learning is experienced by individual participants and what contextual factors are essential for increasing the likelihood that transformative learning will occur.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1258-1283
Author(s):  
Joellen E. Coryell ◽  
Trae Stewart ◽  
Zane C. Wubbena ◽  
Tereza Cristina Valverde-Poenie ◽  
B. J. Spencer

International Service-Learning (ISL) is a structured service-learning experience in another country where students learn from interaction, cross-cultural dialogue, and reflection. This humanistic pedagogy was utilized at the University of Canterbury after earthquakes rocked Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ) in 2010 and 2011. The present comparative-case study examined United States (US), European Union (EU), and Kiwi students' transformative learning through working together in a university-based ISL course designed around re-building Christchurch. Data were analyzed through the Kiely's (2005) Transformative Service-Learning Model. The findings of this study contribute new elements to the dimension of the model and argue that the concept of global citizenship may better explain a mixed cohort of international students' service-learning experiences in a post-disaster setting. Implications to the study's findings and recommendations for future research are briefly discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-49
Author(s):  
Frances Maureen Schnepfleitner ◽  
Marco Paulo Ferreira

The aim of this paper is to present a research-based analysis on the Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning, by first outlining the foundations of the theory and its status and trends, and then highlighting the role played on adult education by the core elements of transformative learning: critical reflection, dialogue, and individual experience. The concept of this essay is to present the current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions on Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning. This essay reviews the collective evidence of the theory of transformative learning, looking for similarities and differences on competing theories. The analysis shows that none of the core elements of transformative learning stand-alone, but each supports and enhances the rest, suggesting a more holistic approach to future research. While these elements must be present for transformative learning to occur, a new and lesser researched element - the context – is suggested. By developing awareness and appreciation of personal and sociocultural context, educators can better facilitate transformative learning situations within existing contextual constraints. The need to help learners actively participate and engage with the concepts presented in the context is the key message to be taken from Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning.


Author(s):  
Konstantin Mitgutsch

Players use digital games as playgrounds for their interests, passions, values, and beliefs. Computer games entertain us, please our needs, challenge our abilities, make us engage with other players, and confront us with novel experiences. Today, video games foster learning, but how players connect their learning through playing games to their biographies is a question yet unanswered. This paper outlines basic theoretical assumptions on playful learning experiences and empirical insights into meaningful learning patterns. On this basis it presents the central results of an innovative qualitative study on playful learning biographies undertaken in 2010, and thereby aims to provide a reflected understanding of how today’s generation experiences deep and meaningful learning in their playful biographies. Furthermore, this paper examines the question on how games foster transformative learning and discusses consequences for educational settings and future research.


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