Introduction to "Facilitating the Integration of Learning: Five Research-Based Practices to Help College Students Connect Learning Across Disciplines and Lived Experience"

Barber, James P.

Item

Introduction to "Facilitating the Integration of Learning: Five Research-Based Practices to Help College Students Connect Learning Across Disciplines and Lived Experience"

Barber, James P.

Abstract

"What is the most powerful learning experience you had as a college student? I often start talks about integrative learning with this simple question, and the responses I get are remarkably similar. Very few people mention an academic course or an organization meeting. Even fewer describe a specific lecture or reading. Most often, people describe the types of integrative learning described in this book: educational experiences that cross boundaries and contexts and remain relevant years later. These learning experiences are visceral; people can often recall very specific details about whom they were with, what they were wearing, or how they felt in that moment. To integrate learning is to connect, apply, and synthesize knowledge and skills across contexts. The most powerful learning experiences we can provide in universities are those that prompt integration of learning."