Creating a Whole Greater than the Sum of Its Parts:Fostering Integrative Learning with a Reflective ePortfolio Process.

college students;integrative learning;learning outcomes;ePortfolios;assessment;Education;Social Sciences;Higher Education

McGuinness, Thomas PatrickKing, Patricia M. ;

University of Michigan

关键词: college students;    integrative learning;    learning outcomes;    ePortfolios;    assessment;    Education;    Social Sciences;    Higher Education;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/111547/mcguinnt_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

This research explores one university’s effort to facilitate integrative learning with a reflective ePortfolio process.Integrative learning is conceptualized using a multi-theoretical construct consisting of transfer of learning, reflective practice, and self-authorship.As part of the evaluation of this process, students completed a pre-survey and a post-survey.Two years later, a sample of students responded to a follow-up survey.These surveys contained the same 37 items, which have been reduced to five dimensions of integrative learning.The study provides strong evidence that engagement in the reflective ePortfolio process leads to integrative learning gains and that these gains are lasting.Students who engaged in the process demonstrated significant growth on all five dimensions of integrative learning.Using a delayed-treatment design to determine causation, the analysis revealed that, for all five dimensions, there was a significant, positive effect associated with engagement in the process.Results from the follow-up survey demonstrated that, for four dimensions, learning gains persisted two years later. Using three-level hierarchical linear modeling to identify differences in integrative learning gains, the study identified characteristics of students and sites that represent optimal interventions.Students who engaged in deeper reflection both started the process with stronger integrative learning abilities and experienced greater learning gains.Students of different demographic backgrounds experienced similar learning gains, though there were differences related to academic characteristics and co-curricular engagement.First-year students experienced stronger growth than sophomores on the identify knowledge, skills, and values dimension.On the pre-survey, there was an inverse relationship between academic performance and integrative learning; students in the lowest academic performance quartile reported weaker learning gains.Similarly, students in social sciences and professional fields rated themselves stronger on the professional digital identity dimension and demonstrated weaker growth.Integrative learning gains were positively associated with participation in student organizations and research projects, while students in fraternities and sororities experienced weaker learning gains.Students who had internships rated themselves stronger on the pre-survey and then experienced weaker learning gains.Students in sites with the greatest numbers of students experienced weaker gains, while there were no differences based on length of the process, term, and facilitation type.