Experiential Education: Learning Through Co-curricular Leadership Experiences - Catherine Salole -...

CATHERINE SALOLE

SASSY 2014 JULY 21, 2014

Experiential Education:

Learning Through Student

Leadership Experiences

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Division of Students PARTNERS IN STUDENT SUCCESS

TODAY, I WILL TELL YOU ABOUT

MY RESEARCH…

• WHY I DID IT

• SOME THEORY

• THE RESULTS & STORIES

• PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

• QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this presentation participants will…

• understand experiential learning theory

• have a renewed appreciation for the rich learning that

occurs as a result of student leadership experiences

• be able to use CAS learning and development outcomes

• reflect on their student leadership programs and re-

imagine them as powerful experiential learning

opportunities

• agree that Catherine’s kids are adorable

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WHAT DO YOU THINK?

WHAT DO STUDENTS LEARN IN STUDENT

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCES?

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SO WHAT?

• Outcomes & assessment culture – anecdotal evidence

is not enough

• Focus on quality student experience – higher education

must contribute meaningful results to individuals &

communities

• Help students in making informed decision re. their

involvement

• Co-curricular env’t provides a rich source of learning

however there is relatively little research

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WHY STUDENT GOV’T?

• Personal interest

• Even less research

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Student government is one of the primary areas in which

students are given the power to “author their own

opportunities and it allows them the place and space to

create their own environment like no other on campus”.

(Lehr, 2002)

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS?

1. Do students learn from their experiences in student

government?

2. What do they learn?

3. What specific experiences lead to learning?

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WHAT IS EXPERIENTIAL

LEARNING?

• Simply…. learning through doing

• Popularized by David A. Kolb in 1984

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ACCORDING TO KOLB….

CONCRETE EXPERIENCE

REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION

ABSTRACT CONCEPUALIZATION

ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION

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FOR EXAMPLE: learning how to

walk…..

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Research Participants

• 14 of 18 SA members

• 3 execs & 11 program representatives

• NB: anonymity & confidentiality

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The Student Association

• “Central” SA of an urban Ontario university

• Receive a student levy

• Annual budget: ~ $25,000

• Elected and unpaid positions

• Main functions: plan community building events and

academic representation/advocacy

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Sample Interview Probes

1. What were the most significant experience(s) or major

highlights? What did you learn from them?

2. Tell me about some of the challenges or low points

during your term? What did you learn from them?

3. What are the successes/achievements that you are

most proud of? What did you learn from them?

4. Did you make any mistakes? Have any failures?

Experiences that could have gone better?

5. What, if anything, would you do differently if given the

opportunity?

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CAS learning & development

outcomes:

• Identify the competencies and skills that a student

completing an undergraduate degree should acquire

• Used as a framework to analyze data

• Name 6 Domains (broad categories) where learning

should occur

• Each domain is further broken down into dimensions

• Data analyzed at the dimension level

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6 Domains

Knowledge acquisition,

construction, integration & application

Cognitive Complexity

Intrapersonal dev’t

Interpersonal competence

Humanitarian-ism & civic engagement

Practical competence

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Results: Learning by Domain

36%

25%

18%

12%

5% 4%

Practical competence

Interpersonal comptence

Cognitive complexity

Intrapersonal development

Humanitarianism and civicengagement

Knowledge,acquisition,construction,integration & application

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Dimensions of

Practical Competency 14 14 14

9 9 8

1 0

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

Dimension

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On time management…

One of the biggest challenges was to multi-task

and prioritize, because on one hand, when you run

for a position, you are obligated to fulfill your role,

but on the other hand, I came to university to be a

student and to achieve an education, and so it’s a

really hard balance between fulfilling the

obligations that you yourself volunteered for, in

addition to sort of fulfilling your student

obligations….

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…Prioritizing was key, realizing that you are only

one person, you can only be in one place at a time, I

was sort of the yes person for a lot of years of my

life, and last year I sort of realized, well, there’s

sometimes you just have to say no. And that was a

real big growing experience, not just as a student

leader, but as a person, it was sort of a really big

realization that you can only do as much as you can

do. And it doesn’t mean putting in less effort; it’s just

means prioritizing where your effort needs to go,

that’s all.

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On professionalism…

It was a really big test to … be accepting, to be

understanding, to be patient, to understand that

there is a bigger picture above me, perhaps I

wasn’t happy in my position, but at the end of the

day, I had a role to fill and that was important to

me. Because especially as a senior student, it’s a

really bad example … that when things get hard,

you give up, that’s not something that I’ve ever

lived by

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On career development…

[My SA] experience is something I am really proud

of. Even in my interviews this is what I will talk

about. This will be one of the big things I refer to

when asked: “tell me about the time, you showed a

little initiative”

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On living a purposeful and satisfying life…

[Participating in the SA] helped me personally last

year … it gave me a reason to continue, to wake

up in the morning and to go on. School itself

wasn’t enough to motivate me, and it was difficult,

life was pretty difficult and then when I started the

position it helped me feel better, it helped me get

up in the morning, it helped me accomplish

something, and I think that’s really what it was, the

feeling of accomplishing something, regardless of

what it was.

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Dimensions of Interpersonal Competency

14 13

11

10

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Meaningfulrelationships

Interdependence Collaboration Effectiveleadership

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

Dimension

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On effective leadership…

You still have to work with people; you have to do

your best to grow the organization. You need to

take advantage of all people skills. Sometimes

they start out not wanting to do very much, but

then in the end they’re very very involved, so trying

to get people to see the difference they can make

is important.

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On working through conflict…

I learned to try and look at the situation from

someone else’s shoes. I tried to do that a lot and I

think I was successful. Even in conflicts, being

able to see the other person’s point of view will

help you resolve the conflict and come to

consensus much sooner.

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On developing professional relationships…

I learned how to interact with other people in an

organizational and professional setting compared

to the classroom where you interact as just

buddies

I am better at not letting personal feelings get in

the way of professional relationships

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Dimensions of Cognitive Complexity

14 14

7

0 0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Critical thinking Reflectivethinking

Creativity Effectivereasoning

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

Dimension

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Interview facilitated the cycle….

CONCRETE EXPERIENCE

REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION

ABSTRACT CONCEPUALIZATION

ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION

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Reflective thinking…

If I could do it again, I would think first about the

things I say before I say them. I think sometimes

when I tried to get my point of view out, I hurt

some people along the way. I know that some

people felt like I attacked them personally….

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Dimensions of

Intrapersonal Development

11

9

2

0 0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

Dimension

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On self-understanding…

I think that this experience has been really great

for me; it’s changed a lot about me. I was a quiet

and shy person in high school and now I have a lot

more confidence. I am now looking into going into

… a profession where I am making a difference

and helping others.

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On self-understanding…

What I think I’ve come away with from being in the

[SA] is learning more about myself and how I work

with others. Working with people in a classroom is

one thing. Working with volunteers on a student

council, helping to better the community … is

totally different.

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Dimensions of

Humanitarianism & Civic Engagement

8

1 1 0

Sense of civicresponsibility

Understandingand appreciationof cultural and

humandifferences

Socialresponsibility

Globalperspective

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Dimension

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

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Dimensions of

Knowledge Acquisition, Construction,

Integration & Application

7

0 0 0 0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Relatingknowledge to

daily life

Understanding ofknowledge from a

range ofdisciplines

Connectingknowledge to

other kowledge,ideas, and

experiences

Constructingknowledge

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

Competency

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On relating knowledge to daily life…

The [SA] allowed me to take what I learned in the

classroom, and implement [it] in a setting. So it

help in so many ways to help me practice some of

the skills I already had such as web design and

things like that.

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On relating knowledge to daily life…

I know that I find most meaning in my life … when

I’m doing something not for creating a profit or for

helping myself, but to help others. So this

experience within the [SA] has taught me that …

maybe that I might go into politics. I’ve been able

to see how changes are made and how beneficial

being in a position where you can make changes

can be.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

1. Do students learn from their participation in student

government?

2. What do they learn?

3. What experiences lead to learning?

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What types of experiences lead to

learning?

1. Interactions with others

2. Event planning

3. Managing priorities and stress

4. Reflections on the overall experience

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Practical Applications

• Affirm the value of student leadership positions

• to student – development of transferable skills

• to student affairs practitioner – keep investing time

• to institution – experiential education opportunities

• For practitioner

• Use/adapt the methodology

• Importance of reflection in the learning process

• Facilitating learning experiences

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Thank You! Questions?

Contact Information

Catherine Salole

Director, Student Community &

Leadership Development

York University

[email protected]

416.736.2100 ext. 66158

mailto:[email protected]

Experiential Education: Learning Through Co-curricular Leadership Experiences - Catherine Salole -...

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