Integrative Learning From The Student Perspective: A Case Study

<p>This paper considers the educational concept of integration as it applies to curriculum design and implementation and to the relationship between curriculum integration and integrative experiences of student participants. Three assumptions underlie the study: (a) Integration is a goal of a program called Integrated Studies, (b) the meaning of integration must be defined within the context of a program, and (c) integration in Teaching & Learning is more than a structure designed by a faculty. The Integrated Studies Program at the University of North Dakota, by its own description, seeks to provide a more coherent learning experience for students within the context of a complex, integrated curriculum and, as such, provides an opportunity for studying many aspects of integration. This qualitative study seeks first, to provide an understanding of integrative learning experiences from the perspective of eight first- year university students as they participated in the Integrated Studies Program and second, to provide a detailed description of the integrated curriculum.</p> <p>The Program’s integrated curriculum, as an alternative to a more traditional general education curriculum, provides opportunities for students to actively construct relationships among content, skills, and the social context of the Program. These opportunities are supported by a faculty who plan and teach as a team, by enrollment of 80-100 students as a cohort for at least one semester, and by cooperative smallgroup activities such as book . eminars, writing groups, and research groups which use a common set of materials selected by faculty to focus on the semester’s theme.Educational theories derived from process philosophy and the communications concept of reframing are discussed in terms of their contributions to understanding integration, integrated curriculum, and integrative learning experiences</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Teaching & Learning

Year

1993

Author dc:creator

• Asbeck, Ann Lee Miller

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.und.edu/theses/429

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.und.edu:theses-1428