Learning to Collaborate from Diverse Interactions in Project-Based Sustainability Courses

Project-based sustainability courses require and facilitate diverse interactions among students, instructors, stakeholders, and mentors. Most project-based courses take an instrumental approach to these interactions, so that they support the overall project deliverables. However, as courses primarily intend to build students’ key competencies in sustainability, including the competence to collaborate in teams and with stakeholders, there are opportunities to utilize these interactions more directly to build students’ interpersonal competence. This study offers insights from project-based sustainability courses at universities in Germany, the U.S., Switzerland, and Spain to empirically explore such opportunities. We investigate how students develop interpersonal competence by learning from (rather than through) their interactions with peers, instructors, stakeholders, and mentors. The findings can be used by course instructors, curriculum designers, and program administrators to more deliberately use the interactions with peers, instructors, stakeholders, and mentors in project-based sustainability courses for developing students’ competence to successfully collaborate in teams and with stakeholders.

Residents’ identification of learning moments and subsequent reflection: impact of peers, supervisors, and patients

Background The clinical workplace offers residents many opportunities for learning. Reflection on workplace experiences drives learning and development because experiences potentially make residents reconsider existing knowledge, action repertoires and beliefs. As reflective learning in the workplace cannot be taken for granted, we aimed to gain a better insight into the process of why residents identify experiences as learning moments, and how residents reflect on these moments. Methods This study draws on semi-structured interviews with 33 medical residents. Interviews explored how residents identified learning moments and how they reflected on such moments, both in-action and on-action. Aiming for extensive explanations on the process of reflection, open-ended questions were used that built on and deepened residents’ answers. After interviews were transcribed verbatim, a within-case and cross-case analysis was conducted to build a general pattern of explanation. Results The data analysis yielded understanding of the crucial role of the social context. Interactions with peers, supervisors, and patients drive reflection, because residents want to measure up to their peers, meet supervisors’ standards, and offer the best patient care. Conversely, quality and depth of reflection sometimes suffer, because residents prioritize patient care over learning. This urges them to seek immediate solutions or ask their peers or supervisor for advice, rather than reflectively deal with a learning moment themselves. Peer discussions potentially enhance deep reflection, while own supervisor involvement sometimes feels unsafe. Discussion Our results adds to our understanding of the social-constructivist nature of reflection. We suggest that feelings of self-preservation during interactions with peers and supervisors in a highly demanding work environment shape reflection. Support from peers or supervisors helps residents to instantly deal with learning moments more easily, but it also makes them more dependent on others for learning. Since residents’ devotion to patient care obscures the reflection process, residents need more dedicated time to reflect. Moreover, to elaborate deeply on learning moments, a supportive and safe learning climate with peers and supervisors is recommended.

Race and Class at Age 30: Ongoing Struggles and Successes

The study is an age 30 follow-up of four groups of students (affluent black, affluent white, lower-income black, lower-income white) from the class of 2009 who attended an elite college with a diverse student body. During college these students had participated in a longitudinal study about the race and class challenges they faced on campus and their learning from diversity. At age 30, 45 participants (80% of the original sample) were interviewed and filled out online surveys. Lower-income participants reported acquiring more elite forms of cultural and social capital and higher aspirations during college, and had attained upward mobility. No race or class differences were found in participants’ educational and occupational attainment or income. Fifty-five percent of the lower-income participants reported a struggle bridging the two different worlds of their home and current communities, a cost of upward mobility. Seventy-one percent of black participants reported confronting racial bias, discrimination and/or exclusion by colleagues at work, and almost half perceived a career ceiling due to race. Few race or class differences existed in participants’ hopes and fears about the future. The data speak strongly to the benefits of learning from being part of a racially and socioeconomically diverse student body. At age 30, 81% of participants reported having learned about race during college through interactions with peers of another race, and 79% attributed learning about social class to interactions with peers of another social class.

The Relationships Between Need-Supportive Interactions With Peers and Teachers, Perceived Academic Control, and Academic Success

This study discusses the relationships between students' need-supportive interactions, perceived academic control, and academic success. The survey involved 192 undergraduate students from different applied sciences universities in The Netherlands. The study examined if students' interactions with peers and teachers, in support of their needs (relatedness, autonomy, and competence), would improve perceptions of academic control and academic success. The constructs of perceived academic control, basic psychological needs, and students’ formal and informal interaction with peers and teachers were linked to each other in a path model. The findings of path analysis showed that need-supportive interactions predicted positive perceptions of academic control and academic success. Most relevant to positive perceptions of academic control were students' formal interactions with peers and teachers supporting their autonomy and competence. Positive perceptions of academic control subsequently supported academic success.

Student Perceptions of Their Interactions with Peers at a Cyber Charter High School

K-12 online students are increasingly communicating and collaborating with their peers; however, research on the topic is limited—especially research examining students’ perceptions and experiences. Guided by the Adolescent Community of Engagement framework’s concept of peer engagement, this case study examined learner-learner interactions at a cyber charter high school. Ten students were selected by teachers based on their ability to independently engage in learning activities—five students were more independent and five required more support from others. Each student took part in two, hour-long interviews for a total of 20 interviews. The interviewers covered students’ perceptions an experiences regarding teachers, parents, and peers. This report only focuses on peers. Students found that their interactions with peers allowed them to develop friendships, improve their motivation, receive peer instruction, and collaborate effectively with others. Challenges are also covered. The article concludes with recommendations for research and practice.