Students in vocational education and training (VET) need to be prepared for coping with value conflicts they will face in their professional lives. Development of awareness of one's feelings is an essential aspect in this regard. Students need to be aware of their own inner feelings to decrease the unconscious influence of inner feelings on their…

Interaction between generations is diminishing and fostering intergenerational contact can benefit both parties involved. The aim of this qualitative study was to develop a deeper understanding of the meaning of participating in an intergenerational oral history project using a phenomenological approach. Undergraduate students (n = 21) interviewed…

This paper examines the experience and role of negative emotions in facilitating university students' learning in world music courses. Based on a review of literature in music psychology and music education, we posit that negative emotions can engender a meaningful learning context. In this project conducted in an Australian university, we created…

Although students are the key actors in their transition to higher education, there is limited research concentrating on student agency in a successful transition. This study examines how Chinese students actively and effectively manage their transition to the Sino-foreign cooperative university (SFCU). In X University -- one of nine SFCUs in…

In this study we investigate how first-year chemistry/biology undergraduate students' original poetry can be used as a reflective tool for others to understand their course experiences. By inviting students from an integrated first-year chemistry/biology course to write poetry about their experiences, we use poetic content analysis as a…

Background: Formal reflection assignments help students process and learn from engagement experiences more fully. Guided reflection can help students engage more deeply with out-of-the-classroom learning experiences and record personal learning. However, it is unknown if students perceive such assignments as valuable. Purpose: This study examined…

This study explored the interaction between cognition and emotion in blended collaborative learning. The participants (n = 30) of this study were undergraduate students enrolled in a 16-week course on information technology teaching. These students were divided into six groups of five people each. The behavior modes of the participants were…

The process of developing intercultural competence requires students to decenter from their existing frames of interpretation. Dissonance creates opportunities to question assumptions by challenging the primacy of perspectives, fostering skills to grapple with new knowledge and the ability to think more dialectically about the world. The present…

Numerous quantitative studies in science education found that student engagement declined after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but analyses to identify the factors that drove emotional engagement down are lacking. Emotional engagement is a multidimensional construct composed of interest in an academic discipline, value in an academic course,…

In this reflective essay, we explore how we and our students experienced trust and opened ourselves up to being vulnerable in two iterations of a course that was built on the pedagogies of ungrading and co-creation in teaching and learning (CCTL). As approaches that fall under the broader umbrella of critical pedagogy, ungrading usually involves…

Gratitude may help Universities to sustain relationships with alumni and stimulate valuable input into current students' learning experiences. This small-scale, qualitative study draws from the voices of alumni associated with a UK University. The study explores gratitude's role within alumni's reflections on Higher Education. We find that…

My Career Story (MCS) comprises a self-guided autobiographical workbook designed to assist individuals across life's diverse spectrum to narrate and shape their career stories. We describe the development and use of the MCS and its relevance for all people contemplating career transitions. Results of a study using the MCS with 20 emerging adults…

This study examines how students experienced and made meaning of a novel academic course in mindfulness, offered to foster holistic learning through self-knowledge. For this interpretive phenomenological analysis, data were collected through critical reflective journals and semistructured interviews. The findings suggest that the course allowed…

Similar to other fields, environmental education has begun to embrace the significance of nonhuman animals. This essay examines developments in the natural sciences, particularly in the field of cognitive ethology, that focus on the concept of empathy as a paradigm for conceptualizing human/nonhuman animal relationships. Drawing on my own…

In recent years, reflective writings have been increasingly incorporated into the higher education curriculum to enhance students' deep learning and to help assess their experiential learning outcomes. However, as reflective practices gain momentum worldwide, an under-researched question arises regarding whether teachers know how to assess…