• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Graduate Theses, Dissertations and Projects
    • Queen's Graduate Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Graduate Theses, Dissertations and Projects
    • Queen's Graduate Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Are Active Learning Classrooms Authentic Learning Environments? An Examination of Students’ and an Instructor’s Lived Experiences in an Active Learning Classroom

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    PhD thesis (2.015Mb)
    Author
    Chen, Victoria
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    New reimagined higher education classrooms called Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) have been increasingly implemented across the world in the past decade (SCALE-UP Site, 2011), providing a more engaging and lively learning environment for students as compared to traditional lecture halls (Baepler, Brooks, & Walker, 2014; Chiu & Cheng, 2017; Morrone, Ouimet, Siering, & Arthur, 2014), but are these experiences meaningful? In studies by Chen, Leger, and Riel (2015a) and Ravenscroft and Chen (2017), instructors and students have hinted that these rooms allow students to make connections between their learning and planned careers, in other words Authentic Learning could be occurring. This could mean that ALCs may not be only engaging learning environments but also authentic learning environments.

    Building on the existing literature of ALCs and theories on Authentic Learning presented in Chapter 1 and 2, this dissertation uses a qualitative approach to capture, retell, and analyze the learning experiences of an instructor and 10 students in a 3rd year elective ethics course. Three research questions are addressed: (1) From the instructor’s perspective, what reasons lead to a decision to teach in an ALCs and how was a course planned and enacted in this classroom environment? (2) From the students’ perspectives, what are their learning experiences in a course taught in an ALCs? (3) Do the learning experiences in an ALCs represent Authentic Learning? If so, what influence does the learning environment have on Authentic Learning?

    Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, observations, and student artifacts, and analyzed using analysis of narrative and a combination of deductive analyses (see Chapter 3). Chapter 4 presents the instructor and students’ lived experiences in a series of cases, followed by a comparison of the data to factors of the Theory of Authentic Learning (Hill, in-press) in Chapter 5, which revealed the learning experiences of students in the course were indeed authentic. Chapter 6 concludes the dissertation with implications of the findings and recommendations for educators on how they too can foster an authentic learning environment in the ALCs.
    URI for this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/1974/23790
    Collections
    • Faculty of Education Graduate Theses
    • Queen's Graduate Theses and Dissertations
    Request an alternative format
    If you require this document in an alternate, accessible format, please contact the Queen's Adaptive Technology Centre

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • A good and worthwhile life: The nature and impact of elementary teacher personal learning 

      Ogden, Holly (2012-10-19)
      This three-phase qualitative study examined the significance of personal learning in the lives of full-time elementary school teachers in Ontario, Canada. The research aimed to provide an awareness of the effects of engaged ...
    • The Visual Arts-Based Experiences of Students with Learning Disabilities: Two Multiple-Perspective Case Studies 

      Karagiorgakis, Irene (2013-10-22)
      Visual arts-based tasks have been used and continue to be used by educators to help support the learning needs of many students. Research findings pertaining to visual arts-based education have concluded that visual ...
    • A Capstone Professional Learning Project: an Ensemble Approach to Professional Learning 

      Shulha, Jason
      This study focused on understanding the nature of a professional learning experience facilitated through the theory and practices of ensemble theatre-making. The study was guided by two questions: How do K-12 teachers ...

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2015  DuraSpace
    Contact Us
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV
     

     

    Browse

    All of QSpaceCommunities & CollectionsPublished DatesAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypesThis CollectionPublished DatesAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypes

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage StatisticsView Google Analytics Statistics

    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2015  DuraSpace
    Contact Us
    Theme by 
    Atmire NV