Program Design

Narrative Learning Group Project

EDAC 634

Spring 2017

Julie Furnish, Laticia Alexander, Nichole Mann, Pam Shawl, and Carrie Reisner

Group Members	Roles	Commented On
Laticia Alexander	Introduction and Table	Groups 3 & 4
Carrie Reisner	Rationale	Groups 1 & 3
Pam Shawl	Rationale and Reflection	Groups 1 & 5
Julie Furnish	Program, Edit, Review	Group 4 and 5
Nichole Mann	Program, Edit, Review	Groups 1 and 5

Introduction

    What is narrative learning?  It is a method to promote learning as well as a “way to  conceptualize the learning process” (p. 1) through stories or narratives (Clark & Rossiter, 2008). The program takes the different types of narrative learning; hearing, telling and recognizing;  and applies them to first-year seminar (FYS) students.  

What is a first-year seminar course?  A FYS is a course that is required for first time college students to complete in their first semester of college.  This course helps with the transition from high school student to college student for those traditional students.  But for the nontraditional student the transition can be from mom, dad, caregiver, employee or the many roles that are possible to that of a college student.  Beyond the transition itself to college student the ideal would also be to enhance the academic skills, self management skills, and build financial literacy.  The FYS courses are designed to give a student some knowledge on academic and career planning along with a more thorough understanding of what professionalism, faculty expectations, and academic integrity are.  With the combination of everything in a FYS course there is the potential to create an excellent academic work ethic.  The FYS also allows for students to have social interaction with other first year students and encourages a social connection to build long lasting relationships with a diverse population.

The program is geared toward online FYS courses specifically non-traditional students.  Narrative learning is going to help FYS students learn more about themselves while gaining self-confidence and knowledge in how to transition their identity into that of a college student.  The program will also incorporate multicultural perspectives for students to become more diversity aware.

Rationale

    The purpose of the first-year seminar is to guide students through various areas of self-exploration and to build self-efficacy in order to ensure student success.  As adults transition to college from the work force, military, child rearing, or other responsibilities, they assimilate a new identity as a college student.  The decision to attend college is likely sparked by another life transition, which may lead to significant personal growth and development.  The use of narrative learning can help adult students make meaning of their previous life experiences and understand how their experiences are similar to or different from others through storytelling.  The social component of narrative learning allows the learner to understand how their experiences fit into the broader cultural narrative. This could be the cultural narrative of their college or university, their community, or the region of the county in which they live.

    Discussion of the literature.  Narrative learning can occur at three levels.  First, we learn by hearing a story.  When individuals hear a story, they may connect it to their own experiences or they may be transported to a place they have not experienced before.  We hear stories about people in our own families, communities, or countries.  We also hear stories about people whose cultures and lived experiences are very different from our own.  Hearing stories engages us cognitively, emotionally, and spiritually.  Second, we learn by telling a story.  The act of telling a story allows us to take the details of an event and put it together in a coherent way, making connections between other experiences and concepts.  An individual can tell a story to themselves or others, in verbal or written form, and the process of doing so may reveal gaps in understanding as he or she tries to put the pieces of the story together. The last level is recognizing stories, which occurs when an individual understands their own position within a broader, cultural narrative.  This level of learning can be emancipatory in nature as it allows one to understand oppression and exploitation that they may be experiencing in a given situation (Clark, 2010; Clark & Rossiter, 2008).  

For adult learners, learning is often change centered, and individual change is an important component of narrative learning. This is especially true of adults who are returning to college after an educational absence.  Clark and Rossiter (2008) indicated, “Understanding identity as a narrative construction is another way of conceptualizing personal change” (p. 2).  The very act of using narrative as a learning strategy is encouragement to initiate a change process. The educator is charged with assisting the learner to see how the information presented fits into the change they are seeking. Introspection is one way that narrative learning occurs. For a student to understand concepts more deeply through their own narrative, they need space to explore their thoughts and feelings in a safe and honest environment. Journaling is an example of a widely used introspective narrative learning technique.  “The reflective journal can be a vehicle for the student to define, question, and interact with content, concepts, ideas, values, beliefs, and feelings” (Hubbs & Brand, 2005, p.62). Clark and Rossiter (2008) also described journaling as “an iterative process of construction in which students weave old and new ideas together, connect what they’re learning, to prior experience and with personal beliefs and assumptions, and through all this generate new questions that stimulate further learning” (p. 67).

Educational biographies are a form of autobiographical narrative where students explore how education has shaped their lives.  This aspect of narrative learning can help non-traditional first-year college students find strength in their previous experiences in order to build self-efficacy.  Storying their experience can allow students to understand not only where they have come from, but where education can take them in the future and how they can become lifelong learners (Clark & Rossiter, 2008).  The act of narrating “brings together their life experience and an abstract concept to create a new narrative from which they learn” (Clark & Rossiter, 2008, p. 68).

Finally, an important objective of the first-year seminar is to explore various aspects of diversity by being introduced to a multicultural perspective.  This includes gaining an understanding of various aspects of human difference such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status.  Cross-cultural narratives can help students understand the experiences of others who may be different from them. The potential to incorporate cultural considerations into learning is one of the most meaningful ways that narrative learning can contribute to the adult learning environment. Cultural interactions take something that literally cannot be understood intuitively and creates a mechanism for meaning beyond academic understanding. In their study on African-American families with children with disabilities, Mattingly and Lawler (2000) explained, “Narrative depictions are much more useful than abstract generalizations or belief statements in helping us to understand the complex and often quite tacit meanings (including dilemmas, hopes, anxieties and the like)” (p. 5).

Cross-cultural interviewing is a learning tool that has great potential in narrative learning settings and lends well to the objectives of the first-year seminar. Journalism gives some excellent resources and guidelines for cross-cultural communication that may have implications for the narrative learning experience. The field of journalism places much emphasis on trust building in cross-cultural relationships, citing an “interactive negotiation” of understanding between participants, even when the interviewer may not be fully confident with the social norms or contexts of the interviewee (Kenny & Akita, 2008). Interviews between people from different cultures provide a structured context for information sharing and discussion, but must be navigated differently than interviews focused around areas of cultural similarity.

    Discussion of existing programs.

In February 2016, The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) launched a three year project to redesign the first year of college, called Re-Imagining the First Year of College (RFY). The RFY project includes forty-four institutions that will redefine their schools. The RFY project was launched to improve student outcomes for all students, but focuses particularly on low-income student, first-generation college students and minorities (Mathewson, 2016).

The FYS program closely aligns with the goals of the RFY project to redesign the FYS so that the outcomes of all our students are improved.  Since the FYS program is going to be an online seminar, we reviewed similar FYS programs. One way we can redesign the program is through the use of e-portfolios. For example, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis requires all first time full-time students to enroll in a FYS. All students enrolled in a FYS program complete an electronic personal development plan (ePDP). The curriculum of the FYS includes guided reflection in which students complete their ePDP using principles of narrative learning in the seven areas:

·         About Me

·         Educational Goals

·         Educational Plans

·         Career Goals

·         Academic Showcase

·         My College Achievements

·         Resume

Faculty are trained through professional development workshops and can include as many or few of the areas into their FYS. For those students who complete FYS programs that include all seven areas, they leave the FYS with an e-portfolio or ePDP that they can utilize throughout their college experience for guidance, evidence and reflection (Buyarski and Landis, 2014).

Since the FYS program will focus on non-traditional adult learners, a concern is how to make the FYS attractive to potential students. Manchester University’s First Year Seminary Faculty Seminar Guide focuses on helping their faculty to design their seminar to “empower students to expand their horizons” as well as to introduce their students to procedures, academics and social aspects. Manchester University FYS programs focus on the Digital Natives. This includes a diversity of generational identities: Millennials, Generation Y and Generation Z. These students are tech savvy, socially oriented, and interested in community service. MU also realizes the importance of utilizing digital trends in the classroom environment (Mansfield University of Pennsylvania, ND). Like Manchester University, we expect our students to be from diverse backgrounds and tech savvy. Incorporating digital learning practices into the FYS will help to keep our students engaged.

Program

    Through a systematic cross-cultural interview project embedded in an online First-Year Seminar programming, non-traditional adult learners will have the opportunity to examine their own story and incorporate the stories of others from a variety of backgrounds into their learning. The project has three main components: the personal narrative, three interviews, and the reflective revision of the personal narrative. These components engage students in both hearing others’ stories and telling their own as a mechanism for growth as a student.

    The personal narrative. The creation of the student’s personal narrative is the first step in using narrative learning strategies to enhance the first year seminar curriculum. Students begin with creating their own educational biography and sharing it on the discussion board. While self-disclosure may be more difficult for some students than others, it is important that students be able to describe their educational journeys and compare and contrast them to other students in the course. Students will be encouraged to include as much as they feel comfortable sharing about their background, personal characteristics, goals, and experiences. Essentially, students will be prompted to answer the questions, “what qualities and experiences make you the student you have become, and how does your role as a student fit into your overall sense of identity?”

    Throughout the semester, students will be provided with prompts to continue expanding on the idea of the educational narrative. For example, during a module on learning styles and personality types, students may be asked to respond to a prompt about how their personality type has influenced their approach to learning throughout their lives. The initial educational biography serves as a general reflection, while the prompts focus students in on how the specific topic of the module incorporates into their personal educational narrative.

    The interview series. The next step is having students in the class interview three individuals of their choice. The three interviews will be split up throughout the semester to spread out the amount of time and give the student time to reflect on information learned. Students will be expected to get to know the individual: their past educational experiences, what they want to do with their life, childhood stories, and their sense of identity are just a few examples. Students should choose interviewees that represent various cultural and social factors, such as differences in geographical location, economic status, etcetera. In class, different ways of being would be discussed before interviews began so students would have more in-depth guidelines to go from. The goals of these interviews is to expand the students understanding of narrative learning and how it can be an effective tool for their own learning, at the same time broadening their understanding of other cultural differences through stories.

    Reflective revision of the narrative. At the end of the semester, the students will take their original biography and make changes to it. We want the student to incorporate how their first semester of college went: what they learned about themselves through it, and what they learned about their interviewees as well. It should also incorporate whether they learned anything new from the interviews. Was there a particular concept that made them rethink or evaluate things they had never considered before? The objective of the activity is that the students explore what their own stories and those of others teach them about the world, and how that knowledge changes them as a learner.

Reflection
     Once our group was put together, we started communicating via email. Through getting to know each other, we came up with a program that centered around experiences and interests of our group members: diversity, self-directed learning, and cross-cultural learning. Two of our group members work with first-year students. We also discussed via email that the program should be in a digital format. We all agreed that it would make sense to focus on a First-Year Seminar program aimed at non-traditional students via an online environment implementing narrative learning principles into the FYS program.

In order to put our paper together, we implemented and agreed upon group schedule and roles. Google docs was used for inputting and discussing our sections. Google docs was helpful since we live in various cities and have different schedules. This allowed us to collaborate by input sections and discuss our project within agreed upon group deadlines. Open communication and dedication was key to our group successfully complete our group project. We discussed our project via email nearly daily, and group members were willing to all do their part to complete our project.

Table

Table 2.  Summary of the literature review

Idea	Main Themes from Literature	Implications for Practice
Three Levels of Narrative Learning	We learn from hearing stories, telling stories, and recognizing stories within the context of the narrative of the culture in which we are living.	Adult educators need to be aware of when narrative learning can enhance a particular learning situation.
Components of Narrative Learning	Engage learners in introspection to identify personal contexts and spur change. Provide opportunities and spaces for free exchange of information. Help students synthesize personal, social, and societal perceptions to create meaning.	Adult educators should use the personal narrative to allow for the introspection to occur.  The process of sharing those personal narratives online will allow for the exchange of information. The reflection of the personal narratives will allow for perceptions to change and real meaning to be made.
Role of Cross-Cultural Narratives	Narratives create more intuitive understanding Cross-cultural interactions engage critical reflection	Adult educators should take advantage of these learning strategies in order to deepen student understanding and to allow for critical reflection.
New Strategies in Narrative Learning	Digital storytelling Cross-cultural interviewing	Adult educators should use the interviews as an opportunity to have cross cultural exposure.

Table 3 - Summary of Program Design

Learners	Non-traditional first year seminar students in an online course.
Purposes	Gain an understanding of how personal narratives impact worldview Apply this understanding to classroom learning experiences
Objectives	Learners will examine how their personal narrative impacts their approach to learning and the college environment. Learners will engage with the narratives of others from different cultural perspectives through conducting and reflecting on personal interviews. Learners will synthesize their learning from others into their own perspectives on learning as demonstrated in a written reflection.
Rationales - ideas from literature	Transition to the role of college student is an engaged life change for nontraditional students. Learning occurs through narrative. Adult learning is often change centered. Narrative learning contributes to the first year seminar curriculum through appreciation for diversity and reflection on one’s own strategies and understanding of the learning experience.
Rationales - features from practical cases	The program aligns with the goals and expectations of the Re-Imagining the First Year and Manchester University first year seminar programs.
Highlights and the major components of the program you designed	Interconnected personal reflections are used throughout the semester to uncover the narrative and document change. Interviewing is used as a dynamic strategy for challenging and expanding learner perspectives. Learners are asked to integrate the experiences of interviewees and the personal experience of conducting the interviews into their personal narrative for a more complete understanding of how their learning occurred.

References

Buyarski, C. & Landis, C. (2014). Using an ePortfolio to Assess the Outcomes of a First-Year Seminar: Student Narrative and Authentic Assessment. International Journal of ePortfolio. 4 (1). 49-51. https://www.pratt.edu/uploads/using_e-portfolios_for_assessment.pdf

Clark, M. C. (2010). Narrative learning: Its contours and its possibilities. New Directions for

           Adult and Continuing Education, (126), 3-11. doi:10.1002/ace.367

Clark, M. C., & Rossiter, M. (2008). Narrative learning in adulthood. New Directions for Adult

           and Continuing Education, (119), 61-70. doi:10.1002/ace.306

Mansfield University. First Year Seminar Faculty Resource Guide (PDF document).

Retrieved from First Year Seminars Online Website: http://www.mansfield.edu/fye/upload/MU-FYS-Faculty-Resource-Guide.pdf

Mathewson, Tara. (2016, February 2).

AASCU Launches Effort to Redesign First Year of College. Education Dive.

Retrieved from http://www.educationdive.com/news/aascu-launches-effort-to-redesign-the-first-year-of-college/413153/

Mattingly, C., & Lawlor, M. (2000). Learning from stories: Narrative interviewing in cross-                 cultural research. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, (7), 4–14.