Experiential Assignment Research Articles

Be the Change You Want to See: Problem-Based Learning to Promote Diversity, Justice, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Sustainability in the Classroom and Workplace

This study presents a problem-based learning (i.e., PBL) assignment to engage students around the areas of diversity, justice, equity, inclusion, belonging (i.e., DEI), and sustainability in the classroom and workplace. The assignment is developed based on the learning objectives of an upper division business course following an outlined three-step process. A pretest-posttest research design with a control group demonstrates that the experiential assignment is effective in enhancing students’ problem-solving skills which, according to employers, recent college graduates need to improve upon. The PBL approach also increases students’ interest in DEI and sustainability so that they want to make a difference in society. While students’ confidence in their preparedness to become a manager decreases over the course of a semester, this loss in confidence is mitigated by students’ active participation in the PBL assignment.

Proactive Autonomous Assignments as Pedagogical Responses to the Rise of Artificial Intelligence Solutions in Sport Management Teaching Practice

Introducing ChatGPT offered higher education students a chance to use artificial intelligence to automatically generate assignment texts, and some might cheat in behaviorist tasks by using generative artificial intelligence. However, the introduction of ChatGPT could also lead instructors to expect more (rather than less) academic integrity in terms of their students’ assignment preparation. That is especially crucial in sport management education, where many instructors apply experiential learning. This essay suggests theory-driven content for proactive autonomous project assignments, addressing some students applying ChatGPT when generating experiential assignment content. The target of such projects is to ensure the greatest possible academic integrity and that students perceive a satisfactory return on their resources invested in education.

Accepting the Terms and Conditions: An Evaluation of a Parole-Based Experiential Assignment

Experiential learning is an effective pedagogical tool that has been associated with several beneficial student outcomes. Given the complex and applied nature of criminal justice courses, educators in these fields have sought to implement experiential learning, developing several impactful initiatives along the way. However, many of these require extensive safety planning, resource acquisition, community partnerships, and institutional buy-in. The present study introduces and evaluates an experiential assignment that helps circumvent some of these issues, wherein first-year university students (n = 42) abide by a set of self-selected parole/probation conditions, write a reflection on their experience, and report on the empirical saliency of their conditions. Following the assignment deadline, an online survey was disseminated to students to gauge the impact of their experience. Results indicated that students enjoyed the assignment, believing that it provided real-world experience, transformed their perspectives, and helped them better understand their course material. Students also demonstrated a strong desire for more experiential learning opportunities in their program. Implications and future directions are discussed.

A Qualitative Analysis of Student and Preceptor Resiliency Discussions During Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences

ObjectiveThe primary objective of this qualitative study was to describe key themes discussed by student pharmacists and preceptors related to recognizing burnout and maintaining wellbeing during an experiential assignment. MethodsThis qualitative study used directed content analysis to examine themes that emerged from discussions between student pharmacists and preceptors as part of a required lifelong learning interview during Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences that took place between August 2019 and May 2020. Iterative axial coding was used to develop and redefine codes systematically until consensus was reached and a final codebook was established. All responses were coded using the consensus categories. ResultsFrom the 228 interviews analyzed, 3 overarching themes emerged: causes of burnout, manifestations or symptoms of burnout, and strategies to manage stress and burnout. Preceptors identified the mechanics of the job and feeling extreme pressure or worry as 2 major causes of burnout, which manifest as physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion, and poor work performance. To manage stress, preceptors reported using personal and work-positive coping strategies. ConclusionThe major themes derived from the analysis—causes of burnout, manifestations of burnout, and strategies to manage stress—align with what is already known about health care provider wellbeing. Although it remains unknown if this type of wellness intervention is effective at changing student stress management habits, results indicate that the intervention sparked conversations that could assist students in establishing a baseline of knowledge on the topic and supply students with a toolkit of resiliency strategies.

A Test of Student Grade Satisficing by Experimentally Inducing Time Stress

Scholars studying scholastic achievement in higher education find that students have specific course grades in mind that satisfy their desires for academic performance. When students believe that they are on-track to achieve those grades, they divert resources to other endeavors. This paper tests a resulting hypothesis: Students balance higher grades on easier assignments with lower grades on more difficult ones. After experimentally inducing time stress by assigning students to participate in an experiential learning exercise, those busier with volunteer work did balance their higher grades on the easier, experiential assignments, against lower ones on the course exams. Additionally, the time stress produced a strong interaction effect. Among the busier students, the time stress reduced their course grades (those not related to the experiential learning), while among the less busy, those grades increased. Instructors should be aware that some course activities are less linked to learning than others. The educational consequence of student grade satisficing is that when instructors offer more credit for easier activities, which are less linked to student learning, they may be reducing learning overall. The role of grade satisficing in reducing students’ acquisition of knowledge is an under-explored topic, but it has powerful implications for student learning.

Living labs as an opportunity for experiential learning in building engineering education

Building performance – spanning energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, indoor environmental quality, etc. – is fundamental to the field of building engineering, yet it is typically taught with idealistic assumptions and traditional, teacher-centred, lecture-based methods. A promising emerging approach for university-level building engineering education is experiential learning, whereby students actively engage in complex tasks with real building data that reflect the kinds of problems graduates are likely to encounter in the workplace. To bridge the academic and employability skills and knowledge that they are developing through these tasks, students participate in reflective activities that help them to articulate the relevance and implications of the experience for lifelong learning. The objective of this paper is to assess the teaching and learning effectiveness of a data- and information-centric experiential learning approach to university-level engineering education. This paper reflects upon a particular course-based initiative informed by experiential learning theory that engaged fourth-year students in the life cycle of a new building on a university campus that was equipped with state-of-the-art building controls technologies. Students were provided access to a living lab resource with diverse artefacts from the building: drawings and building information models, guest lectures and technical tours, and live/historic data for the building. A series of assignments provided students with simulated problem scenarios to solve through the application of the building data as well as reflection prompts about their problem-solving process. The present paper details the assignments and the nature of the living lab data, students’ assignment results, and students and teaching assistants’ feedback on the overall teaching approach. The findings indicate a significant and continuous improvement in the reception and perceived educational value of the experiential assignments over the four-month term, suggesting living labs are a promising source of educational material for experiential learning. The paper concludes with lessons learned from the current course about experiential learning in building engineering education that can be applied more broadly to future courses in the field.

Teach What You Preach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Policy Memo as a Methods Teaching Tool

Students and instructors alike have lamented the nature of methods instruction in political science curricula. Existing research has presented a number of innovative approaches to engage students in this important learning enterprise, from blogging and simulations to data visualization and the use of clickers. This article builds upon this literature by arguing that the policy memo is particularly suited for introducing basic methodological concepts to upper-division undergraduate students. To facilitate its use for this purpose in addition to its utility as a knowledge assessment tool, I offer a policy memo template based on over ten years of experience as a strategist and analyst in the U.S. military. The article also includes a detailed description of the basic methodological concepts that can be developed through each section of the template. Specifically, the policy memo can be used to introduce students to concepts like identifying a critical research question, defining and measuring variables, conducting a literature review, developing hypotheses, using data to assess hypotheses, evaluating the authoritativeness of sources, and devising the theoretical implications of one’s research. I present some preliminary results that support the policy memo’s inclusion as a tool of methods instruction, but the pedagogical literature - which argues for integrative, experiential, relevant, and short assignments - provides the strongest rationale for its use.

Redesigning an Undergraduate Global Health Course to Increase Student Engagement and Incorporate High-Impact Educational Practices

In many undergraduate public health programs, global health is an introductory course encountered early in the curriculum. At the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, the undergraduate global health course reinforces introductory content within a global health framework while building skills in preparation for upper-division work. The global health course was completely redesigned in January 2018 to increase student engagement and incorporate high-impact educational practices, including experiential learning opportunities, diversity/global learning, and collaborative assignments. New activities incorporated include a water carrying exercise to simulate efforts required for the billions of people worldwide who manually transport water for daily use and a model United Nations scenario-based activity based on a writing assignment proposing an international policy from the position of a selected country. Incorporation of relatively brief written assignments early in the undergraduate public health curriculum additionally serves to support student development of written communication skills throughout the program and helps in early identification of students who may need additional support in writing skills. Assessment of the new course was conducted through student feedback, student performance on assignments, and student growth/development throughout the course. Through successful course redesign students emerge excited about international opportunities for public health practice and with a greater empathy for global citizens living abroad.

Independence in the Making: Using Makerspace Experiences to Build Foundational Entrepreneurial Competencies

This paper describes the makerspace challenge, an experiential assignment that builds foundational entrepreneurial competencies through the creation of artifacts within campus makerspaces. This assignment strengthens student ability to navigate ambiguity, learn new technologies, effectively utilize resources, and bring creative ideas to reality in a low stakes supportive environment. Students choose 3 out of 4 pre-identified projects to complete outside of class over a three week period, presenting a tangible artifact in-class each week. Grounded in constructionist pedagogy, this assignment is particularly appropriate for introductory entrepreneurship courses, but can easily be scaffolded to be applicable throughout the entrepreneurship curriculum.

Assessing Participants’ Experiences in a Service-Learning Program: A Psychometric Evaluation

There is currently a gap in the literature regarding the creation of psychometrically sound measurement tools assessing service-learning programs in health-related fields. Without comprehension of a survey's psychometric properties, evaluators cannot ensure that survey instruments are reliable or valid. This study describes the psychometric evaluation of the Public Health Associate Program (PHAP) Service-Learning Scale (PSLS). PSLS assesses participant experience in PHAP, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program. This paper explains survey development, scale validity and reliability, and the internal factor structure of the PSLS. The final scale consisted of 22 items with a high internal consistency (Cronbach's α=.90). Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to determine the scale's factor structure; five factors comprising of all 22 items were retained. The factors, or subscales, were Learning Outcomes, Mentoring, Experiential Assignment, Self-Efficacy in Program Competency Domains, and Program Satisfaction. All were also found to have adequate internal consistency (Cronbach's α >.70). Service-learning is vital in developing the next generation of the workforce. These study findings suggest the PSLS fills a critical gap in the literature by providing a valid and reliable instrument to evaluate experiences and satisfaction in service-learning programs and other fellowships.

Student observations of medication error reporting practices in community pharmacy settings.

Medication safety practices and methods for reporting errors in community pharmacies are relatively unknown. (s): The primary objective of this study was to describe student-reported data on medication safety and error reporting practices in community pharmacies, and secondarily describe student learning from this assignment. Second professional year pharmacy students enrolled at Purdue University College of Pharmacy in the United States observed and recorded medication safety and error reporting practices as part of an experiential assignment. Data were collected from 170 unique pharmacy settings between the years 2016-2018 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and a paired t-test to assess student learning. 51% of students reported documentation of 1-10 errors or near misses annually, with an additional 30% reporting 11-30. Near misses were only reported 26% of the time. Errors were most commonly reported to a pharmacy-specific reporting system (84%) and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices National Medication Errors Reporting Program (84%). The most frequently reported error types included wrong directions (34%), wrong drug (14%), wrong strength (13%), and wrong patient (12%). Pharmacists were observed to be interrupted approximately 19 times every hour. Anonymous error reporting was typically not allowed to the pharmacy's preferred error reporting system (71%). A policy requiring that the prescriber is contacted about errors was observed at 77% of the sites. The most common consequences of committing an error were education/training (72%) or progressive discipline (41%). Students reported a statistically significant increase in understanding of medication safety practices and methods for reporting errors in community pharmacies. (p < 0.01). This data supplements existing literature on medication safety practices and error reporting in community pharmacy settings, as well as highlights knowledge gaps outside the scope of this study.

A Semantic Analysis of Experiential Construction in Hokkien

In this article the author discusses the analysis of the experience of construction and the subject of experiencer (dative) in Hokkien. In Semantic studies, experiential construction is a process or method used to form meaning that has experiencer as a human participant who accidentally experiences a mental or physical state. The concept of experience explains 5 subdomains of experiential verbs, namely bodily sensations (thirst, hunger, pain, itching), emotions (anger, pleasure, fear), desire (want), cognition (thinking, knowing, remembering), and perception (see, feel, hearing), as well as forms of experiential adjectives, namely curious, clever, forgetful, and confused. Each language has terms that are bad, good, and neutral emotions and can be described through symptoms outside the body, such as red and pale. This research is a qualitative descriptive study and was compiled using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) theory. The author analyzes the data in this article by using data collection methods from respondents with referring, engaging, and proficient techniques. The research data is taken from written and verbal sources. The experiential construction in Hokkien may use both transitive and intransitive experiential verbs in experiential assignment as object and or subject datives. In Hokkien, subject experiencer is taking the position of direct subject, while the object experiencer is taking the position as dative subject.

Using an Experiential Learning Assignment to Teach BSW Students about Culture and End-of-Life Care Planning

ABSTRACTIn response to needs identified by the Institute of Medicine and the National Association of Social Workers, this article describes an experiential assignment to increase BSW students’ skills in end-of-life care. In this assignment, students discussed end-of-life wishes with another, completed an advance directive, and processed their experience. Students made gains in three areas: awareness of others’ perspectives, recognition of culture’s influence on end-of-life decisions, and the role of information in empowering patients and families. Students also made gains in the affective skill of empathy.

Diamond Foods, Inc.: A Comprehensive Case in Financial Analysis and Valuation

ABSTRACTThis real-world comprehensive case provides an experiential assignment to bring alive most major topics addressed in the financial statement analysis and valuation course. By demonstrating the interconnections between different topics, the case also serves as an integrative assignment to develop a holistic understanding of the course. The case presents a platform to develop students' critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. By requiring them to apply the frameworks of strategy and industry analysis, techniques of accounting and financial analysis, and by placing them in the role of a financial analyst, the case develops an understanding of the challenges involved in financial analysis and valuation in a real-world context. The case helps students to experience the power of using financial statements and other publicly available information to derive insights into firm valuation and to appreciate the role of accruals-based and real earnings management in stock valuation.

Bearing Witness 2017: Year 2 of a Pacific climate change storytelling project

In 2016, the Pacific Media Centre responded to the devastation and tragedy wrought in Fiji by Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston by initiating the Bearing Witness journalism project and dispatching two postgraduate students to Viti Levu to document and report on the impact of climate change (Robie &amp; Chand, 2017). This was followed up in 2017 in a second phase of what was hoped would become a five-year mission and expanded in future years to include other parts of the Asia-Pacific region. This project is timely, given the new 10-year Strategic Plan 2017-2026 launched by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in March and the co-hosting by Fiji of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23) climate change conference in Bonn, Germany, during November. The students dispatched in 2017 on the ‘bearing witness’ journalism experiential assignment to work in collaboration with the Pacific Centre for the Environment and Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD) and the Regional Journalism Programme at the University of the South Pacific included a report about the relocation of a remote inland village of Tukuraki. They won the 2017 media and trauma prize of the Asia-Pacific Dart Centre, an agency affiliated with the Columbia School of Journalism. This article is a case study assessing the progress with this second year of the journalism project and exploring the strategic initiatives under way for more nuanced and constructive Asia-Pacific media storytelling in response to climate change.

Cooking up the Culinary Nation or Savoring its Regions? Teaching Food Studies in Vietnam

“In food, as in death, we feel the essential brotherhood of man.”Vietnamese ProverbThis paper explores whether or not there is an identifiably Vietnamese national cuisine, one in which the ingredients, recipes, and/or dishes socially, culturally, and politically unite Vietnamese people. It contends that Vietnam, with its long history of foreign invaders, its own appropriation of the middle and southern regions, and its varied regional geographies, provides a critical example for Food Studies of the need to interrogate the idea of a national cuisine and to differentiate it from regional and local cuisines. The paper examines how cookbook authors and cooking schools have more generally sought to represent Vietnamese dishes as national, but that there is a strong argument against the claim of a Vietnamese national cuisine. We advocate a Food Studies methodology that creates an effective pedagogy that explores whether or not national populations are unified as single gastro-states or atomized by a plurality of regional cuisines. Through experiential assignments and student work we illustrate how Food Studies presents the pedagogical opportunity for students to study and learn at the intersection of national politics and the everyday lives of people, providing a framework for understanding connections of labor, gender, class, and, essentially, taste, among many other values. In the case of Vietnamese food, the critical details of ingredients, preparation, and consumption both reveal and conceal truths about the Vietnamese people.

Bearing Witness 2016: A Fiji climate change journalism case study

In February 2016, the Fiji Islands were devastated by Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston, the strongest recorded tropical storm in the Southern Hemisphere. The category 5 storm with wind gusts reaching 300 kilometres an hour, left 44 people dead, 45,000 people displaced, 350,000 indirectly affected, and $650 million worth of damage (Climate Council, 2016). In March 2017, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) launched a new 10-year Strategic Plan 2017-2026, which regards climate change as a ‘deeply troubling issue for the environmental, economic, and social viability of Pacific island countries and territories’. In November, Fiji will co-host the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23) climate change conference in Bonn, Germany. Against this background, the Pacific Media Centre despatched two neophyte journalists to Fiji for a two-week field trip in April 2016 on a ‘bearing witness’ journalism experiential assignment to work in collaboration with the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD) and the Regional Journalism Programme at the University of the South Pacific. This paper is a case study assessing this climate change journalism project and arguing for the initiative to be funded for a multiple-year period in future and to cover additional Pacific countries, especially those so-called ‘frontline’ climate change states.

Action!: Student-Generated Videos in Social Work Education

Experiential learning is a vital aspect of social work education, particularly for teaching community practice. The literature, however, provides few examples of technology-based experiential assignments that educators can implement in their classrooms. This exploratory study examined an innovative student-generated video assignment developed for a social work community practice course. Thirty-seven former students spanning three distinct semesters completed an online survey of closed- and open-ended questions. Findings indicate the video assignment enhanced understanding of community practice and provided a unique diffusion factor. Participants appreciated how the video assignment differed from traditional assignments by offering opportunity for praxis, creativity, and acquisition of technological skills. Educators should note the challenges of student-generated videos to maximize their educational benefit and sustain student receptivity to such assignments. Teaching video-making skills has implications for post-graduation employment in the human service sector.

Perilous Patches and Pitstaches

Although some research has examined men and women’s general attitudes toward women growing body hair, little research has engaged in a side-by-side examination of women’s imagined experiences of growing body hair with an experiential component of growing their own body hair. In the first of two studies, I asked a diverse community sample of women aged 18 to 59 to assess their impressions of women who grew body hair and to imagine their own, and others’, reactions to their hypothetical body hair growth. For the second study, I utilized response papers from 62 women from diverse backgrounds in an undergraduate women’s studies course, who grew their body hair for an assignment. Results showed overwhelming negativity toward women growing body hair in both studies, but they differed in perceptions of social control and individual agency. Women in Study 1, who merely imagined body hair growth, described it more nonchalantly and individualistically, citing personal choice and rarely acknowledging social pressures placed upon women even disgusted by other women’s body hair. Women in Study 2 regularly discussed unanticipated social pressures and norms, rarely discussed personal choice, and reported a constellation of difficulties, including homophobia, family and partner anger, and internalized disgust and “dirtiness.” These results on a seemingly “trivial” subject nuance the “rhetoric of choice” debate within feminist theories of the body while also illustrating a vivid experiential assignment that delves into women’s personal values, relationships, and social norms. Implications for assessing and changing attitudes about women’s bodies—particularly “abject” or “othered” bodies—are discussed.

Counselor-o-poly: Students’ Response to an Experiential Assignment

Experiential activities provide the opportunity for students to not only learn the material presented but also to apply what they learn in a hands-on environment. An assignment in a counselor training program written to assist students in learning various competencies is important in the development of their identity as professional counselors. Furthermore, the article presents the activity developed by one group of students assigned the transgender competencies and their personal reactions to the development of the activity and the presentation of Counselor-o-poly to their classmates.