Abstract
One of the great joys of editing the Journal of Experiential Education (JEE) is being introduced to a wide array of ideas reflecting cutting-edge scholarship on experiential education across diverse regions of practice. I have come to appreciate the myriad ways people understand, study, and represent contemporary thinking to readers. Issue 41(3) is no exception. In it, you will be invited by the authors to think in new ways about experiential practice in different international and disciplinary contexts.
In the first article, Morten Asfeldt, Glen Hvenegaard, and Rebecca Purc-Stephenson contribute to the literature on best practices in experiential education by focusing their attention on reflection. They describe a project that examined a group journaling activity as an approach to conducting reflection during a student expedition. Student respondents in their study affirmed the benefits of the approach. Their article culminates with a pictorial model that will be useful for future instructors looking to implement group journaling as a means of reflecting on experience.
Next, Xiaokai Jia, Jiyong Jung, and Anne Leftwich propose service learning as a strategy for creating authentic learning experiences for preservice teachers in a shared course on technology integration—a common way of training future teachers in this area. Their research was motivated by the need to engage preservice teachers reflecting a range of disciplines in a general course, which poses the problem of either tailoring instruction around different arenas for application or finding another way to connect learning to the real world. Service learning presents one strategy. The researchers found the approach to be generally successful, although not without challenges, which are enumerated for instructors and researchers to take up in future work.
Nóra Fuz presents research on the use of out of school learning (OSL) experiences in primary schools in Hungary. Despite a decree from the Hungarian government recommending the use of OSL as a supplement to the core curriculum, and positive attitudes among school personnel and students alike, Fuz found a number barriers that inhibit the wide adoption of OSL as a routine, effective practice. Fuz’s study is impressive in its scope, and indicates both the potential and the limitations of educational policy that is not accompanied by ongoing attention to curricular design at the local level.
Of late, a consistent interest area in the JEE is international education and study abroad. Writing about an undergraduate study abroad program in Peru he designed and led, Nevin Harper explores the intersection of two important dimensions of study abroad experiences (SAEs): (a) students’ relation to place and (b) the meaning of SAEs to the participant as time passes. A subtext of Harper’s article—following these two axes—is the relationship between culture and human development, a relationship he examines through a socioecological perspective. In this, Harper’s article is a good example of efforts at decolonizing experiential education, particularly when cultural boundaries are crossed in the name of education.
Finally, Lissy Goralnik, Laurie Thorp, and Alissa Rickborn describe Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning and identity formation in a field-based, undergraduate sustainability program. They illustrate the potency of cocurricular field experiences for engaging students who might otherwise be unmotivated by large, lecture-type university classes. I especially appreciated their methodological approach, which investigated learning and identity change as interrelated and coextensive processes. Readers interested in STEM learning, particularly in the context of sustainability education, will enjoy this article.
The articles contained in JEE issue 41(3) reflect the different conceptual, methodological, and empirical perspectives that are being brought to bear on experiential education in different settings. They also capture important issues in domestic and international environments, presenting themes that are applicable to nearly all experiential educators—at least as food for thought.