Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Student Motivations and Perception Across and Within Five Forms of Experiential Learning

Student Motivations and Perception Across and Within Five Forms of Experiential Learning ABSTRACT: Understanding student motivations for participating in high-impact educational practices is important for improving learning experiences. This article explores student motivations across and within five forms of experiential learning at Elon University: study abroad, research, internships, service-learning, and leadership experiences. Surveys and interviews were used at the end of students’ senior year to understand what drives choices, the obstacles hindering student decisions, and the perceived value of each experience. A complex web of motivations arose related to majors and career goals, the perceived value of different opportunities, learning goals, financial need, minority status, and other factors. Students perceived many benefits from experiential learning related to worldview (93 percent of students), career development (87 percent), and academic learning (84 percent), though students varied widely in reporting which experiences they valued most and least. Findings suggest four implications for practice: making experiential learning a more substantial part of curricula, having a diverse set of experiential learning opportunities available to meet diverse student needs, being attentive to the socioeconomic situations of students, and promoting the benefits of each experiential learning opportunity in a balanced way that promotes multiple facets of a liberal education. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Journal of General Education Penn State University Press

Student Motivations and Perception Across and Within Five Forms of Experiential Learning

Coker, Jeffrey Scott
The Journal of General Education , Volume 65 (2) – Mar 2, 2016
Download PDF
19 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/penn-state-university-press/student-motivations-and-perception-across-and-within-five-forms-of-HZdavcWrHo

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Penn State University Press
Copyright
Copyright © The Pennsylvania State University.
ISSN
1527-2060
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Understanding student motivations for participating in high-impact educational practices is important for improving learning experiences. This article explores student motivations across and within five forms of experiential learning at Elon University: study abroad, research, internships, service-learning, and leadership experiences. Surveys and interviews were used at the end of students’ senior year to understand what drives choices, the obstacles hindering student decisions, and the perceived value of each experience. A complex web of motivations arose related to majors and career goals, the perceived value of different opportunities, learning goals, financial need, minority status, and other factors. Students perceived many benefits from experiential learning related to worldview (93 percent of students), career development (87 percent), and academic learning (84 percent), though students varied widely in reporting which experiences they valued most and least. Findings suggest four implications for practice: making experiential learning a more substantial part of curricula, having a diverse set of experiential learning opportunities available to meet diverse student needs, being attentive to the socioeconomic situations of students, and promoting the benefits of each experiential learning opportunity in a balanced way that promotes multiple facets of a liberal education.

Journal

The Journal of General Education – Penn State University Press

Published: Mar 2, 2016

There are no references for this article.