A MATTER OF CLASS: EXPLORING PEDAGOGY THROUGH THE EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS IN THE GRADUATE CLASSROOM

Back to Page Authors: Elsa Calliard-Burton

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Keywords: graduate education classroom, teaching graduate students, experiential learning, transformative, graduate students’ experiences

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Abstract: Students’ experiences in higher education often determine if they complete their program of study and how well they complete it. Summers (2003) posits that “The only true measure of a successful educational model is our students’ experience of it” (p. 64). Researchers of higher education have indicated that higher education has become more inclusive but that teaching methods at this level are still not sufficiently altered to ensure that a one-size-fits-all methodology is no longer engaged (Dosch and Zidon 2014, Tuitt et al 2016). On the other hand, Gillett-Swan (2017) purports that higher education providers are becoming increasingly aware of the diversity of their current and potential learners and are moving to provide a range of options for their engagement. This exploratory qualitative study explored the experiences of students in the graduate education classroom of the School of Education University of the West Indies, Mona. The research sought to explore the following: the experiences of students in the graduate education class; to investigate the pedagogical practices that are used to engage students in the graduate education class; examine how the valuing of students’ experiences contribute to their learning and transformation in the graduate education class. A qualitative research study using a non-probability sample in the form of a purposive sample was conducted. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and a participant observation. The findings from the study indicated that the students have both negative and positive pedagogical experiences in the graduate education classroom.

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