Key Articles
Archer-Kuhn, B. (2020). Putting social justice in social work education through inquiry-based learning. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 40(5). https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2020.1821864
Archer-Kuhn, B. & MacKinnon, S.L. (2020). Developing Trust in Students, Professors and the Process within Short-term Higher Education Inquiry-based Learning Environments. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 8(9), 1-14. DOI:10.11114/jets.v8i9.4929
This qualitative constructivist grounded theory study of trust within inquiry-based learning in higher education (IBL-HE) environments examined the experiences of instructors and students through four focus groups and nine individual interviews. As the study purpose is to understand the development and maintenance of trust in IBL-HE classrooms, participants are experienced instructors, learners, and authors of IBL-HE from Canada, USA, New Zealand, and Ireland. We used face-to-face sessions and zoom sessions to facilitate the focus group experience, and telephone for the individual interviews to explore the following two research questions: (1) what does trust mean in a higher education IBL (IBL-HE) classroom; and, (2) how do those involved create and maintain it? Our findings are revealed through our Pedagogy of Trust in IBL-HE using 3 themes: (1) Creating an environment of negotiated mutuality; (2) Emerging relationship/community building; and, (3) Internalizing and applying a mindset shift. Each of these stages involved a different trust relationship: (1) Professor-Student; (2) Student-Student; and, (3) Student-Self. These findings provide evidence for IBL as a pedagogy of trust in higher education, and reinforce the need for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and the lifelong learning skills desired by contemporary employers.
MacKinnon, S.L. (2017). “The Curiosity Project”: Re-igniting the Desire to Inquire Through Intrinsically-Motivated Learning and Mentorship. Journal of Transformative Learning, 4(1), 4-21.
“The Curiosity Project” encourages students to engage in intrinsically-motivated, inquiry-based project learning, investigating topics that interest them and following them down long and often winding roads, where u-turns, hidden side roads, and venturing off the map are a cause for excitement not a distraction from the destination. These inquiry-based, semester-long, student-led projects incorporate proximal goals of weekly learning logs and peer group meetings and in-depth feedback from peers and senior student facilitators. There are no page/word limits or minimum/maximum number of resources, just students’ burgeoning sense of what constitutes “high-quality work”. Community-oriented projects round out this experience. In this paper, I outline the structure of “The Curiosity Project”, its theoretical underpinnings, and present both quantitative and qualitative data that suggest that not only are the project’s basic goals being met but that there are unexpected, but theoretically supported, transformational properties stemming from student engagement in this project.
Boyle, S.L. & MacKinnon, S.L. (2016). Speed Bumps or Road Blocks? Students’ Perceptions of Barriers to Learning & Developing Academic Resilience. Proceedings of the Association of Atlantic Universities’ 2016 Teaching Showcase, 20, 58-68.
While we start out in life intrinsically curious, at some point throughout our journey from childhood to adulthood this curiosity begins to disappear (Berger, 2014; Lang, 2012). This is largely the result of various barriers and challenges, which can inhibit our willingness to explore our world (e.g., Kashdan, 2009). While the existence of barriers to curiosity has been documented (e.g., academic pressures, fear of failure), we have little insight into the lived experience of students’ struggling to learn more independently. We, therefore, interviewed a group of third and fourth year undergraduates who had completed two “Curiosity Projects”, once in second year and once in third/fourth year. In each semester-long “Curiosity Project”, students chose their own topic, wrote ten weekly learning logs, engaged in weekly small group discussions and online feedback, created a final “fair” project, and reflected on their learning experience. The students we interviewed had also served as small group and online learning facilitators for junior students in the project for at least one semester demonstrating that they were deeply committed to the goal of independent, curiosity-driven learning. Analysis of these interviews suggests that despite positive experiences in their first Curiosity Project, most of these highly motivated students experienced unexpected challenges with knowledge/skill transfer. They differed, however, in how they perceived these challenges, as speed bumps or roadblocks. The environmental, personal and social pressures that impacted these perceptions and the students’ ability to overcome the challenges they faced are the focus of this paper.
Related Articles
Arend, B., Archer-Kuhn, B., Hiramatsu, K., Seeley, J., Ostrowdun, C. & Jones, A. (in press). Min(d)ing the gap: Comparing student and instructor experiences with critical reflection. Teaching and Learning Inquiry.
Archer-Kuhn, B., Samson, P., Damianakis, T., Barrett, B., Ahern, C., Matin, S. (2020). Transformative Learning in Field Education: Students Bridging the Theory/Practice Gap. British Journal of Social Work. (00), 1-20. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcaa082.
In a four-year, four cohort study utilising a series of six focus groups, forty Masters of Social Work students preparing to graduate defined their personal and professional experiences of transformation in their respective social work field education settings. Using an inductive thematic analysis, students highlighted four key themes in their transformative learning (TL) process: (i) defining the nature of disorienting dilemmas in field education; (ii) critical self-reflection, coping and moving through disorienting dilemmas; (iii) identifying the transformative outcomes in a field context; and (iv) facilitative factors to TL in field education. The findings illuminate the essential role of the field supervisor in creating ‘relationship’. The field supervisor/student relationship is the conduit to students’ deep learning, critical reflection, identity shifts and empathy supporting the student’s navigation through their disorientating moments towards transformative and meaningful outcomes. This study extends our understanding of the role of TL theory within experiential learning contexts and the feasibility of its use in the social work field education experience.
Damianakis, T., Barrett, B., Archer-Kuhn, B., Samson, P., Matin, S., & Ahern, C. (2019). Transformative learning in graduate education: masters
of social work students’ experiences of personal and professional learning, Studies in Higher Education, DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2019.1650735
Transformative learning captures the process by which students engage in their learning, experience a change in perspective, of themselves or society, and then enact their new understanding. The purpose of this 4-year, four-cohort study was to identify the transformative learning experiences of Master of Social Work students and specific student engagement strategies they felt made a difference in preparing them for professional practice. Six focus groups (n = 40) were conducted using established focus group methodology. All focus groups were audio recorded, professionally transcribed verbatim, and subject to qualitative content analysis. Students identified six themes in student engagement strategies that facilitated their transformative learning, including transformative aspects of the curriculum, experiences with peers, qualities in their relationships with faculty that fostered critical reflection, a sense of identity, and mentoring. This study will help educators better identify teaching strategies to engage students in their personal and professional transformative learning.
Nairn (MacKinnon), S. L., Ellard, J. H., Scialfa, C. T., & Miller, C. D. (2003). At the core of introductory psychology: A content analysis. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 44(2), 93-99.
Exposure to the central ideas of the discipline is a primary pedagogical goal of introductory psychology. In this study, key concepts were identified in six introductory psychology textbooks. Of these, 377 concepts were included in at least five of six texts, forming the core of introductory psychology. If a unanimity criterion is adopted, the set is reduced to 197 concepts. These concepts were compared to lists from Zechmeister and Zechmeister (2000), Landrum (1993), and Quereshi (1993). Fifty-eight concepts were common to all four studies and were unevenly distributed among the major subdisciplines within psychology. Discussion focuses on the disparity of consensus across topics, the potential theoretical and practical value in hierarchical concept analyses, and “top-down” construction of a core for introductory psychology.