Once upon a time…. Storytelling to Enhance Teaching and Learning

2007 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne Lordly
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Professional Students ◽  
External Focus ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
The Impact

Purpose: The impact of storytelling in the classroom was examined, as was what motivates individuals to engage in storytelling. Methods: A storytelling methodology was introduced in an undergraduate nutrition course as an opportunity to enhance the teaching and learning environment. A 28-item, multi-part, self-administered survey was then distributed to the class (n=17). Results: Survey responses (n=15, 88% response) indicate that educators’ and students’ storytelling can positively influence the learning environment. This occurs through the creation of a greater focus on personalized information, glimpses of real-life experience, a connection with a topic as participants recognize similarities in their own personal experience and knowledge, and connections between different topics and through the emphasis on key concepts. Stories initiate useful conversations about unexplored struggles within practice, such as the emotional dimension(s) of an issue or what it means to be professional. Students are motivated to participate in storytelling through an external focus on others (i.e., helping others to learn) and an internal focus on self (i.e., seeking a connection with others to promote social dialogue). Several challenges related to the use of storytelling in the classroom emerged. Conclusions: Storytelling develops ways of knowing and dialoguing about issues, which has the potential to influence how students will approach their professional practice.

scholarly journals Knowledge management practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balakrishnan V Nair ◽  
Chandramalar Munusami
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
General View ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate KM practices that may be in place in the higher education institutions (HEIs) and whether the KM practices are made known to the employees for improving the teaching and learning environment provided at the Malaysian higher education institutions.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a personal administrated method made available to private higher education institutions academic members in five states with 30 or more employees. A total of 1,100 survey questionnaires were handed out, out of which 273 were collected and were usable (24.8 per cent response rate). The sample was checked for response and non-response bias. Results were tested using SPSS application and questionnaire tools.FindingsIt was essential to establish the knowledge management (KM) capacity in key areas such as the ability to recognise experts within the institution, leadership’s innovation, knowledge sharing and knowledge acquiring work culture, and technology usage. KM tools and techniques would help the institutions to meet their competitive goals; therefore, it is vital for HEIs to create KM awareness among the employees.Research limitations/implicationsSimilar to most studies, it is anticipated that the participants’ awareness of KM practices at their HEIs is very high. The samples were collected to evaluate the general view of KM awareness and how participants perceived KM practices. The total samples received for this study were expected; however, they were sufficient to study the impact.Practical implicationsThis paper provides support for the importance of KM practices and employees awareness at HEIs to enhance innovation and performance teaching and learning environment.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first papers to find empirical support for the role of KM practices at HEIs. Further, the positioning of KM practices as a competitive tool can be considered as an influential factor to competitive advantage.

scholarly journals Teaching, Learning, and Assessment: Insights into Students’ Motivation to Learn

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Walters ◽  
Pedro Silva ◽  
Jennifer Nikolai
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Basic Psychological Needs ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment ◽  
Second Year ◽  
The Impact

This study draws upon the perspectives of sport and recreation undergraduate students in New Zealand who were involved in the design of their own assessments, and discusses the implication of the teaching and learning environment on this process. In a previous study, student criticism had emerged of current teaching strategies and assessment methods at their institution. The purpose of this current study was to directly address some of these concerns and for lecturers and students to work collaboratively to develop a more learner-centred teaching and learning environment. Students from a second-year sociology of sport paper were invited to design their own exam. A session was facilitated where learning outcomes and exam strategies were addressed. Students were then given the opportunity to create their own exam questions in a student-led classroom environment. Concurrently, students from a third-year sports coaching paper were invited to fully design their own assessments. Student experience was captured through focus group interviews. Self-determination theory (SDT) provided the theoretical lens used to examine the data, with a specific focus on how the basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) of participants were either supported or thwarted. The findings suggest that the second-year students struggled with a perceived lack of teaching direction throughout the process. However, third-year students were extremely positive about the opportunity to have ownership of their learning experience, and analysis revealed an increase in intrinsic motivation to learn. This study highlights the importance of student voice, and encourages a process that allows students to contribute meaningfully toward the design and delivery of their own programmes of study. Additionally, it provides an opportunity for a co-leadership model of students’ learning experience to emerge. Furthermore, it allows for reflection from both staff and students regarding the impact of the learning environment on student motivation to learn.

scholarly journals Student Wellbeing in the Teaching and Learning Environment: A Study Exploring Student and Staff Perspectives

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Elena Riva ◽  
Rebecca Freeman ◽  
Lauren Schrock ◽  
Victoria Jelicic ◽  
Cameron-Tosh Ozer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Student Wellbeing ◽  
Teacher Student ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment ◽  
Student Centred Learning ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Staff Wellbeing ◽  
The Impact

Internationally and in the UK universities are facing a crisis of student wellbeing. In this context, it is important to research the impact of the teaching and learning environment and experiences, including the relationships between students and staff, on student wellbeing. While separate pieces of research on students’ wellbeing have addressed student and teacher perspectives on the role of learning experiences, we identified an opportunity to address the perspectives of both students and staff, including non-academics, in the same study. This study advances work on student wellbeing, recognising an interdependency between staff and student wellbeing. It adds to current research in identifying student-centred learning and assessment, intercultural awareness, international integration, and emotional intelligence as enablers of positive student wellbeing. The findings of this research also demonstrate the crucial role of the teacher-student relationship in impacting students’ (and staff) wellbeing and suggest solutions and areas for development that reflect the complexity of the Higher Education environment in which they are located.

scholarly journals A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of an Engineering Programme

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Craig Watterson
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Engineering Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Complex Situation ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment

<p>The extensive literature relating to student barriers within the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields and, in particular, engineering education illustrates that STEM education has a widespread problem in retaining students. A plethora of studies have concentrated on placing the student at the centre of the problem – for example by focusing on student academic ability, work habits and social background. By analysing staff interviews, and investigating pertinent factors from the surrounding institutional, cultural and social environment, I shift the focus away from the phenomenological experience of individuals to examine the way power relations affect the teaching and learning environment. Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) offers a theoretical and methodological basis for critically exploring networks of power, through the investigation of discourse and can provide insights into the complex situation in the School of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS).  I use FDA to ask: how is power experienced and manifested by lecturers in the Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (BE) first-year teaching and learning environment at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), New Zealand. I do this by analysing transcripts of interviews with teaching staff, as well as ECS, University, and Government documentation. By adopting an FDA approach to lecturers’ experiences of power, situated in the New Zealand neoliberal educational context, I aim to identify issues that impact the teaching and learning environment. These include academic practices relating to Government and University pressure to increase engineering student recruitment and retention numbers, an academically diverse incoming student cohort, course design, teaching and research. From a Foucauldian perspective, the New Zealand Government, the University, its lecturers, and students are all part of an educational setting comprising a complex network of power relationships active in the operation of the teaching and learning environment.  By placing lecturers at the epicentre of the situation and by understanding how lecturers both experience and exercise power in the teaching-learning environment, the issue of student retention may be re-framed. This study offers a unique perspective from which we can assess these problematic experiences at the source, whether that be at government, institution, department, teacher or learner level. As such, by exploring the operation of power, this thesis explores an important aspect of the retention problem which has never been fully investigated in NZ engineering education.</p>

Interdisciplinary Pedagogies in Higher Education

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debora DeZure
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Interdisciplinary Learning ◽  
Professional Students ◽  
Online Tools ◽  
Interdisciplinary Problem Solving ◽  
The Many ◽  
Impact Of Technology ◽  
The Impact

“Interdisciplinary Pedagogies in Higher Education” explores the increasing integration of goals for interdisciplinary learning in American higher education. The chapter begins with working definitions of interdisciplinary learning and the many factors that have led to its proliferation. It then reviews the elaboration of new methods to teach and to assess interdisciplinary learning, emerging models of interdisciplinary problem-solving, and practice-oriented resources and online tools to assist undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and their instructors with interdisciplinary problem-solving and communications in cross-disciplinary and interprofessional contexts. The chapter concludes with the impact of technology, for example, e-portfolios and other digital and technology-enabled tools, and evidence of an emerging body of scholarship of teaching and learning focused on interdisciplinary learning.

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