Class Participation in an Aboriginal Theatre Project: An Exemplar of Undergraduate Student Engagement

Authors

  • Ginny R. Ratsoy Thompson Rivers University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2011.1.3

Abstract

In the 21st Century, Canadian universities are increasingly emphasizing the importance of student engagement. This research paper, by analyzing the reflections of undergraduate students on their experiences in a co-curricular service learning assignment – integrated into a course that included more traditional assignments – in the context of situated learning theory, advocates for a community-focused assignment as a component in a “traditional” lecture-and-discussion based course as a tool for enhanced engagement through active, collaborative learning. While the case study explored is a drama course, the anticipated audience is pan-disciplinary, as the article casts more broadly by providing brief, general guidelines on implementing an experiential learning assignment and encouraging all professors to reflect on their classroom theory and praxis to the end of augmenting student engagement.

Au 21e siècle, les universités canadiennes accordent une place de plus en plus importante à l’engagement des étudiants. Les auteurs de ce rapport de recherche analysent les réflexions des étudiants de premier cycle à propos d’un travail pratique (TP) qu’ils ont effectué dans le cadre de l’apprentissage par le service communautaire– intégré à un cours qui comprenait des TP plus traditionnels – dans le contexte de la théorie de l’apprentissage situé. Les auteurs préconisent des TP axés sur la collectivité en tant que composants d’un cours « traditionnel » comportant des exposés magistraux et des discussions. Ce type de TP est un outil permettant d’améliorer l’engagement grâce à l’apprentissage actif et collaboratif. L’étude de cas porte sur un cours d’art dramatique, mais le public visé par le présent article est multidisciplinaire. En effet, les auteurs de l’article considèrent les choses plus largement en fournissant de brèves directives générales sur la mise en œuvre d’un devoir dans le cadre de l’apprentissage expérientiel et encouragent tous les enseignants à réfléchir sur leurs stratégies d’enseignement théoriques et pratiques afin d’augmenter l’engagement des étudiants.

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Published

2011-09-07

How to Cite

Ratsoy, G. R. (2011). Class Participation in an Aboriginal Theatre Project: An Exemplar of Undergraduate Student Engagement. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2011.1.3

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2011)

Section

Research Papers

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