Powerful Learning Experiences Research Articles

Academic publishing as an exercise of leadership: evidence from doctoral students in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This study inquires into the experiences of 15 doctoral students from universities in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong to examine the factors that contribute to publishing first-authored academic papers and explores their self-perceptions of their scholarly identities. Using Leadership for Learning as a theoretical framework, the research findings show that successful academic publishing is underpinned by powerful learning experiences, the sharing of leadership and a shared sense of accountability. The study demonstrates that student agency, which links leadership and learning, is manifested through purposeful action, relational engagement and self-transformation. The research results acknowledge the unequal power dynamics in different research collaborations and reveal that doctoral students’ identity development is interlinked with a passion for research, strong learning experiences, the way that others position themselves and autonomy. The study highlights the need for robust learning experiences, tailored support for academic publishing and leadership development opportunities that facilitate academic collaborations.

Editor’s Note: Always room to grow

Teresa Preston, editor in chief of Kappan, reflects on a powerful learning experience in her introduction to the October 2024 issue focused on mastery learning.

Digital game-based language learning for vocabulary development

Current literature suggests that one of the impressive benefits of digital game-based language learning is its potential to create engaging vocabulary learning experiences. However, this literature is dominated by game-play approaches, rather than game-making approaches. Drawing upon constructivist, motivation, dual-coding, and constructionist theories, this study examined elementary English language learners’ vocabulary learning experiences in a game-based learning context and investigated their experience as they built their own games based on their understanding of different non-fiction texts. This mixed-methods case study involved novel use of network analysis to examine student learning, investigate the relationships between various aspects of learner experiences, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the program. Findings indicated that a complex set of interdependencies between enactments of theoretical principles including generativity, agency, tinkering, intrinsic motivation, and contextualized learning lead to enjoyment and powerful language learning experiences. Design principles for future digital game-based language learning include optimizing visual aspects, spending more time on technical skill development, increasing learner agency, and focusing more on generative and joyful learning experiences.

Transformative Learning: The Impact of Deeper Learning Approaches in Enhancing the Transversal Competencies

Curriculum policy statements advocate the essential nature of well-developed 21st century or transversal skills for our students’ success in today’s world. Future employment, enjoyment, empowerment, and effective participation in society require these skills. The essential skills of digital literacy, communication, collaboration, critical and creative thinking are aspects of the deeper learning approaches such as guided inquiry learning that are explored in this study and are recognized as significant literacies in the information/knowledge economy and align with both the Australian and Victorian Curriculum (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2022; Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2018). It is hoped that my study, informed by the narrative of student voice on the experience of guided inquiry learning, will further inform teaching practice for educators on how to design meaningful and powerful learning experiences that both engage students and improve student achievement by enhancing their critical and creative thinking.

A82‘Simulation for Finals and Real Life’ – is it ever too early to jump in the deep end?

Surveying University of Nottingham (UoN) medical students in their final year with regards to applying an A-E approach in a medical emergency context, we found that they lacked confidence. In order to address this curriculum gap, we designed a low-fidelity simulation-based workshop which has been shown to improve confidence in developing key skills relating to medical emergencies [1]. This consists of a 2-hour session for groups of 6, for all students undertaking their medical placements at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH). After successfully implementing this workshop for students in their final year, we asked ourselves ‘when is it too early for medical students to cover A-E assessments in medical training?’ Considering this is an essential skill to develop and part of their intended learning outcomes (ILOs) that is also tested in their 3rd year examinations, we introduced an adapted version of this workshop for the more junior cohort. We constructed this workshop with alignment to both the final and third year UoN curriculum ILOs. Google forms were used to survey students’ confidence pre and post-session. We used a low-fidelity simulation mannequin, focusing on an otherwise realistic clinical environment using medical notes, a portfolio of investigations and props. This included an observation monitor, a real-time display with altering vital parameters and a fully equipped emergency trolley. Pre‐reading handouts on A-E assessment by the Resuscitation Council UK [2] were provided. We watched a pre‐recorded demonstration video of the management of hypoglycaemia prior to students working in pairs on three scenarios. During the simulation scenarios, faculty members acted as either the patient or team members, including as a nurse and medical registrar. We showed that participation in our workshop significantly improved student confidence in the specific domains (see Summary of the student questionnaire results Written feedback from students suggested active participation in a simulated learning environment together with a detailed debrief and facilitated discussion was a powerful learning experience. This workshop has now been embedded into the teaching timetable at NUH. A-E assessment is a key template doctors of all grades use when facing the most critical situations. Considering the feedback, introducing more junior students to the structure of an A-E assessment early is essential for creating a scaffold in their long-term memory, ingraining this into their professional practice. This will prepare them for their OSCEs and the new GMC mandated MLA examinations [3] and, more importantly, for when they start their roles as foundation doctors. Authors confirm that all relevant ethical standards for research conduct and dissemination have been met. The submitting author confirms that relevant ethical approval was granted, if applicable.

Leadership preparation in progress: evidence from a district-university partnership

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the experiences of a closed cohort of aspiring leaders and connects the university and school district partnership relationship to building the leadership capacity of the cohort. This study builds on previous literature in district-university partnerships and leadership preparation. Powerful learning experiences (PLEs) and interpersonal-intrapersonal leadership development models serve as frames to examine how aspects of successful leadership preparation programs were present.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative study was conducted with a team of researchers from the university and school district and relies on data from semi-structured interviews with students from the closed cohort.FindingsResearchers identified three major themes of aspiring leaders' preparation experience: confidence building, reflection and mindset change.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the emerging literature on PLEs by illustrating how this type of partnership creates opportunities for powerful learning experiences for aspiring school leaders.

Procedural content generation for VR educational applications: The investigation of AI-based approaches for improving learning experience

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has witnessed significant advancements in the field of education, with its ability to personalize and adapt content to individual student needs. In parallel, virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a powerful tutorial tool, providing immersive and interactive experiential learning experiences which has the advantages of improving students' motivation and engagement. Previous researchers have demonstrated the potential of ML algorithms, particularly RL, for generating educational content and VR environments. To create high-quality content, researchers have started exploring the integration of Machine Learning (ML) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms into Procedural Content Generation (PCG) methods for automatically generating both textual and non-textual content such as practice questions, quizzes, VR learning environments, etc., which have the potential to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of educational interventions. Nonetheless, the development of these techniques requires addressing several challenges. Significant advancements are yet to be made in developing and refining these algorithms to produce high-quality and effective educational content for VR applications. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of research in reinforcement AI learning content generation for VR educational applications. For each area, it discusses the state-of-the-art techniques, applications, limitations, and challenges faced in development, covering the use of natural language processing, reinforcement learning, and machine learning algorithms. The review concludes by highlighting some of the key opportunities for future research in this field, including the development of more sophisticated models and the exploration of new applications of machine learning in educational technology.

Engaging Premedical Students in Medical Education Research: Benefits of Clinical Skills Observation Studies.

Observations requiring evaluation and critical thinking can be powerful learning experiences. Video-recorded standardized patient encounters are underused resources for evaluation and research. The authors engaged premedical students in medical education research reviewing standardized patient encounters. This study aims to explore participant perceptions of the research experience and how they gained clinical skills. This mixed-method study was completed between 2019 and 2022. Premedical participants coded medical students' clinical skills in video-recorded standardized patient encounters. Each participant also completed their own new patient history in a standardized patient encounter at both the beginning and end of their research project. Participants then completed an end-of-program debrief to discuss their experiences coding the clinical skills encounters. The authors coded communication skills implemented in the pre/postencounters and completed a thematic analysis of the debrief transcripts. All 21 participants demonstrated significant clinical skills gain after their research project, which included spending more time with the patient (pre-M=5 minutes, post-M=19 minutes, t=13.2, P<.001) and asking more questions (pre-M=13, post-M=40, t=9.3, P<.001). Prior clinical experience did not influence pre- or postoutcomes, but the number of videos coded was associated with asking more questions in the postencounter. Participants described learning actively and reflected that their clinical skills research project gave them greater insight into patient-care aspects of medical school and how medical students learn. These data demonstrate that observational studies in which premedical students evaluate standardized patient encounters gave the students context to medical education while enabling them to develop and transfer their own clinical skills. Studies observing standardized patient encounters provide rich insight into clinical skills development, and this work generates both research outcomes and actionable program evaluation data for medical educators. Purposefully engaging premedical students in such experiential learning opportunities benefits the students and helps cultivate early medical education pathways for these learners.

It's a question of balance: Reconsidering learning partnerships through genuine teacher mentoring conversations

In Australia, and internationally, mentoring is proffered as a powerful professional learning experience for both early career teachers (ECTs) and their mentors alike. However, authentically beneficial learning partnerships have proven challenging to achieve. This paper provides a theoretical and practical response to this issue, arguing the criticality of genuine conversations cultivated through balanced, non-hierarchical questioning to position ECTs and mentors as co-learners. Drawing on positioning theory in conjunction with the concept of genuine conversations, the contents of five recorded mentoring conversations involving Australian ECTs and mentors were analysed. These findings have important implications for mentoring practice across educational contexts.

Developing Learning Leaders: How Modeling PLC Culture in Principal Preparation Can Shift the Leadership Views of Aspiring Administrators

While scholars argue that school administrators should cultivate a culture of learning and efficacy among staff, little is known about how to develop learning leaders. This study investigated whether a principal preparation course that modeled a Professional Learning Community and utilized Powerful Learning Experiences (PLEs) could shift the mental models of aspiring leaders toward learning leadership. A qualitative analysis of weekly journal entries indicated that the course supported half of students in developing learning leadership values, one entered disequilibrium, and the others remained management oriented. We argue that developing learning leaders requires greater exposure to PLEs throughout their principal preparation.

Carceral Socialization as Voter Suppression

In an era of mass incarceration, many people are socialized through interactions with the carceral state. These interactions are powerful learning experiences, and by design, they are contrary to democratic citizenship. Citizenship is about belonging to a community of equals, being entitled to mutual respect and concern. Criminal punishment deliberately harms, subordinates, and stigmatizes. Encounters with the carceral system are powerful experiences of anti-democratic socialization, and they impact peoples’ sense of citizenship and trust in government. Accordingly, a large body of social science research shows that eligible voters who have carceral contact are significantly less likely to vote or to participate in politics. Hence, the carceral system’s impact on political participation goes well beyond those who are formally disenfranchised due to convictions. It also suppresses participation among the millions of legally eligible voters who have not been formally disenfranchised—people who have had more fleeting encounters with law enforcement or vicarious interactions with the carceral system. This Article considers the implications of these findings from the perspective of voting rights law and the constitutional values underlying it. In a moment when voting rights are under siege, voting rights advocates are in a heated discussion about how our federal and state constitutions protect ideals of democratic citizenship and political equality. This discussion has largely (and for good reason) focused on how the law should address what I call “de jure” suppression: tangible election laws and policies that impose legal barriers to voting, or dilute voting power. Eliminating these formal barriers to voting is vital. But, I argue, fully realizing the constitutional values underlying voting rights will also require also addressing what I call “de facto” suppression, or suppression through socialization. This occurs not through formal legal restrictions on voting, but when state institutions like the carceral system systematically socialize citizens in a manner that is incompatible with democratic citizenship. I show how de facto suppression threatens the constitutional interests protected by the right to vote just like de jure suppression does. In short, by systematically socializing people in a manner that is fundamentally incompatible with democratic citizenship, the state can effectively strip a citizen of much of the instrumental and intrinsic value conferred by the right to vote. Those who are concerned about advancing and protecting voting rights should understand the carceral system’s anti-democratic socialization as a form of political suppression—one that should warrant constitutional scrutiny for the same reasons that de jure suppression should warrant scrutiny.

Facilitating Role Understanding and Collaboration Between Aspiring School Counselors and Principals

Using a convergent mixed-methods design, we investigated role understanding and collaboration between school counselors and principals. Specifically, this study situated aspiring school counselors and principals in a curriculum intervention on the role of their counterpart and then brought the two professions together in a collaborative powerful learning experience. The results of our pilot study demonstrate that both school counselor and educational leadership graduate students benefit from and value a presentation on roles of their opposite counterpart and the opportunity to practice collaboration in their graduate preparation programs.

Training clinicians in culturally relevant care: a curriculum to improve knowledge and comfort with the transgender and gender diverse population.

To design a replicable simulation curriculum collaboratively with the transgender and gender diverse community to improve clinician knowledge and comfort with providing reproductive care to this population. This is a prospective, single arm pre-post analysis of obstetrics and gynecology residents at a single academic institution after completion of a novel simulation curriculum. The primary outcome was the change in resident comfort and knowledge in providing transgender and gender diverse patient care. A thematic analysis of learner and standardized patient free text responses was analyzed for insights on perceived learner experiences. This curriculum was created with iterative feedback from the transgender community and involved only transgender and gender diverse-identified standardized patients. Thirty residents participated, with 22 responding to both the pre-and post-curriculum surveys, and 11 responding to a 6-month post-curriculum survey. There were significant improvements in learner comfort and knowledge after participation that were found to persist at 6months. Qualitative analysis demonstrated that this was a positive and powerful learning experience for both residents and standardized patients. This simulation curriculum may be an effective and impactful tool to increase trainee comfort and knowledge of transgender and gender diverse patient care, which is important given the lack of physician training in the care for these individuals. By building the foundation with resident learners, the ultimate goal is to enhance the pool of clinicians confident and capable of caring for transgender and gender diverse patients, to increase access to care, and to improve health outcomes in this vulnerable population.

Challenging preservice teachers thinking about school science education with a values and knowledge education (VaKE) experience

AbstractScience preservice teachers (PSTs), as successes of the school system, often mimic what they experienced as a student when they start teaching, which can be problematic if they never experienced science taught in contextualized ways. Since not all school students report that they find school science relevant, it is important to provide opportunities for PSTs to consider ways to connect science teaching and learning in more relevant ways for their students' lives. Values and knowledge education (VaKE), is a student‐centered pedagogical approach, that uses dilemma stories and a series of purposeful steps to combine values education with knowledge education, provides such an opportunity. This qualitative study investigated secondary science PSTs views on the ways a VaKE experience challenged their assumptions about school science to support their future development as quality teachers of science, and the extent to which PSTs feel confident, able and likely to use VaKE as a teaching strategy in their future teaching of science. VaKE, an innovative pedagogy, provided a powerful and novel learning experience for almost all PSTs, by challenging and inspiring them to critically reflect on their own schooling and expand their pedagogical knowledge for teaching science in the future.

Student emotional response to the lesser kestrel environmental and sustainability education program

Emotion is a central aspect for protecting the environment in environmental and sustainability education (ESE). As such, positive emotions toward nature can increase motivation to learn and take environmental action. This qualitative case study explored the complex interrelationship among place-based education, emotions and values related to ESE, academic social and emotional learning, and explored the situated notion of emotions in the context of environmental citizenship. The emotions of 59 fifth-grade students, who were engaged in a program to protect the Lesser Kestrel, were explored. The findings suggest that the outcomes of the Lesser Kestrel program were complex and mostly positive in activating students’ emotions. The results indicate that ESE programs should focus on situated emotions, due to their important role in promoting powerful learning experiences and environmental citizenship, which may mitigate the environmental crisis, along with moral issues that affect the well-being of the individual, and social and natural environments.

Seizing the moment: A critical place-based partnership for antiracist elementary social studies teacher education

ABSTRACT We designed and implemented a hybrid elementary social studies education elective focused on antiracist teacher education, place-based teacher education, and archaeology with partners at an historic site, James Madison’s Montpelier. Our action research study indicates that, in the midst of injustices highlighted in 2020, participants engaged in meaningful race reflection in ways that demonstrated shifts toward becoming more antiracist individuals and teachers. Purposeful course work and interactions with course texts and participants, as well as the power of the place itself, supported students’ race reflections toward increased racial awareness and understandings of how to facilitate their future elementary students’ racial literacy. Implications include that critical place-based experiences have the potential to serve as powerful learning experiences to prepare preservice social studies teachers to teach children about race and racism.

Developing Virtual Simulations to Confront Racism and Bias in Health Professions Education

BackgroundBias and racism against Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) is omnipresent in health professions and healthcare. Healthcare educators indicate they need more training and resources to confidently confront racism and bias when it occurs. The purpose of this project was to apply best practices in simulation to educating healthcare educators to confronting racism and bias. MethodThis educational series was developed in consultation with experts to utilize best practices in racial and social justice simulation. A 3-hour standardized, virtual training session was developed incorporating trigger films that adhere to the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning Healthcare Simulation Standards of Best PracticeTM. The training sessions were repeated monthly with different interprofessional groups of health professions educators representing the following disciplines: nursing, physicians, physical therapists, occupational therapy, and physician assistants. ResultsParticipants described this as a powerful learning experience, engaging, and liked the concrete solutions. ConclusionEffective role modeling of confronting racism and bias for learners contributes to inclusive excellence, improves Black, Indigenous and People of Color experiences, and strengthens commitment to equity in our diverse communities. This manuscript describes the development of the interprofessional educational training session using simulation incorporating trigger films.

Creating something out of nothing: Enacting critical civic engagement in urban classrooms

Critical civic engagement (CCE) is a pedagogical framework for civic education in urban settings. CCE as a pedagogical approach engages student lived experience, develops critical thinking, and facilitates informed civic action projects. In this phenomenological study of teachers in four urban high schools in a large urban school district, the author seeks to understand how teachers experience the enactment of CCE elements in schools with majority African American or Latinx student populations. The author argues that CCE practices can and should lead to the development of civic identity as a critical outcome for students in contrast to more formal measures of academic achievement. Civic identity is the foundation upon with engagement in public life is built. The study suggests that the enactment of CCE elements provides a powerful learning and identity formation experience for students and a pedagogical process that inspires teachers and their student-centered practices.

Art and knowing in health management education

Presented is a case illustrating connections between art, learning and the mobilization of knowledge. As part of an assessment task in a postgraduate degree, a student made a painting about her experiences with workplace harassment and bullying in the surgical ward that she managed. I interviewed this student and made my own artworks to better understand her workplace and learning experiences. We then discussed our respective artworks and recorded those conversations. These data suggest that art-making can create powerful learning experiences, change attitude to health management practice, make connections and generate productive conversations within a healthcare organization, and mobilize knowledge. The paper responds to the question: Can art be ‘paradigm-shifting’ and therefore hold potential for creating a ‘good’ or better health service? It also reflects on the use of art in health service research more generally, especially in an era considered by some to be ‘postparadigmatic.’

Science and Society: Integrating Historical Science Materials Into an Undergraduate Biology Course

<em>Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education</em> (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011) stresses the importance of fostering an understanding of the relationship between science and society. We describe a library-based activity that enables students in an undergraduate microbiology class to explore this relationship over the course of centuries, with the library functioning as a laboratory. Students are guided by a worksheet as they explore historical materials such as books, newspapers, letters, government publications, articles, scientific treatises, and artifacts. Working in pairs, students answer questions about the content and reflect on how the ideas in the documents relate to the scientific understanding at the time. Exploring authentic materials in a library setting provides a powerful learning experience. This activity was also successful using digitized documents during the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote teaching was required. Student responses to a post-activity questionnaire indicated that the activity sparked a keen interest in the history of science as well as introspection about the relationship between science and society. This approach can be generalized for different biology courses and education levels. <em>Primary image:&nbsp;</em> Students examining historical books and microscopes.&nbsp;Students working in pairs to complete worksheet questions during one of two visits to the University of Colorado Boulder&rsquo;s Special Collections.