Research and Further Reading

Experiential learning is a growing priority at Western and in the province. The following literature and guiding documents support and discuss experiential learning as a valuable approach to teaching and learning, and ground our work at Western.

Overview: Experiential Learning Literature

Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development: Guiding Principles for Experiential Learning.

Association for Experiential Education (AEE). (2017) What is experiential education?  

Bell, R., Furco, A., Ammon, M.S., Muller, P., and Sorgen, V. (2000) Institutionalizing service-learning in higher education: Findings from a study of the Western Region Campus Compact Consortium.  Western Region Campus Compact Consortium. Bellingham, W.A: Western Washington University.

Dewey, J. (1938).   Experience and education.  New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Kolb, D.A. (1984).  Experiential learning.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 

Featured: Work Integrated Learning (WIL)

A Practical Guide for Work-integrated Learning: Effective Practices to Enhance the Educational Quality of Structured Work Experiences Offered through Colleges and Universities. Document produced by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.

Maximizing Opportunity, Mitigating Risk:  Aligning  Law, Policy and Practice to Strengthen Work-Integrated Learning in Ontario. Document produced by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. 

To find out more about Western’s commitment to preparing students for industry, please refer to Western University’s 2017-20 Strategic Mandate Agreement.

For further information on how Work Integrated Learning can prepare students for life after university, please refer to the following: Bringing Life to Learning at Ontario Universities.

Featured: Community Engaged Learning (CEL)

Bamber, P., & Hankin, L. (2011). Transformative learning through service-learning: No passport required. Education + Training, 53(2/3), 190-206. doi:10.1108/00400911111115726 | Get it at Western.

Boyer, E. L. (2016). The Scholarship of Engagement.  Journal of Higher Education Outreach & Engagement20(1), 15–27. | Get it at Western.

Butler, Melanie. 2013. Learning from service-learningPrimus: Problems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies 23, (10): 881-892. DOI: 10.1080/10511970.2013.775978 | Get it at Western.

Cameron, Silver Donald. Getting Wisdom: The Transformative Power of Community Service-Learning. (2010) ISBN: 978-0-9867125-0-0. 

Conway, J. M., Amel, E. L., & Gerwien, D. P. (2009). Teaching and learning in the social context: A meta-analysis of service learning's effects on academic, personal, social, and citizenship outcomes.  The Teaching of Psychology,  36(4), 233-245. doi:10.1080/00986280903172969 | Get it at Western.

Dolgon, C., Mitchell, T. D., & Eatman, T. K. (2017). The cambridge handbook of service learning and community engagement. New York, NY; Cambridge, United Kingdom; Cambridge University Press. | Get it at Western.

Goldberg, L., McCormick Richburg, C., & Wood, L. (2006). Active learning through service-learning. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 27(3), 131-145. doi:10.1177/15257401060270030201

Parker-Gwin, R., & Mabry, J. B. (1998). Service learning as pedagogy and civic education: Comparing outcomes for three models.  Teaching Sociology, 26(4), 276-291. doi:10.2307/1318768 | Get it at Western.

Harrison, Barbara, and Patti H. Clayton. 2012. Reciprocity as a threshold concept for faculty who are learning to teach with service-learning. The Journal of Faculty Development 26, (3) (09): 29-33. | Get it at Western.

Maddrell, J. (2014). Service-learning instructional design considerations.  Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 26(3), 213-226. doi:10.1007/s12528-014-9085-y | Get it at Western.

Vogelgesang, Jori J., Astin, Alexander W. (2000) "Comparing the Effects of Community Service and Service-Learning." Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning 25-34.

Highlight: Incorporating Reflection

Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2004). The articulated learning: An approach to reflection and assessment. Innovative Higher Education, 29, 137-154.

Ash, S. L., Clayton, P. H., & Atkinson, M. P. (2005). Integrating reflection and assessment to improve and capture student learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 11(2), 49-59.

Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2009). Generating, deepening, and documenting learning: The power of critical reflection in applied learning. Journal of Applied Learning in Higher Education, 1(1), 25-48.

Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Promoting reflection in learning: A model. In D.Boud, R. Keogh, & D. Walker, Reflection: Turning experience into learning (pp. 18–40). London: Kogan Page.

Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Boston: D.C. Heath

Langer, E.J. (1989). Mindfulness. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing.      

Loughran, J.J. (1996). Developing reflective practice: Learning about teaching and learning through modeling. Washington, DC: Falmer Press

Rogers, R. (2001). Reflection in higher education: A concept analysis. Innovative Higher Education, 26, 37–57.

Ryan, M. (2011). Improving reflective writing in higher education: A social semiotic perspective. Teaching in Higher Education, 16(1), 99-111.

Ryan, M. (2013). The pedagogical balancing act: Teaching reflection in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 18(2), 144-155.

Schon, D.A. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Schon, D.A. (1983). The reflective practitioner. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Western's Research Contribution

Hayne Beatty, S., Meadows, K. N., Swami, Nathan, R., & Mulvihill, C. (2016). The Effects of an Alternative Spring Break Program on Student Development. Journal of Higher Education Outreach & Engagement, 20 (3), 90–118. | Get it at Western.

Hayne Beatty, S. (2018). Institutionalizing Community Engaged Scholarship at a Research University. The Organizational Improvement Plan at Western University, 46. 

Community Engaged Learning Final Projects via Scholarship at Western: Final student projects emerging from curricular CEL courses.