Assignment: LASA: Postsecondary Learner Characteristics: Field Experience (Report)

For the field experience assignment, you will interview two postsecondary learners. Using the data and information collected from these interviews, the course readings, and current research, you will describe and identify the characteristics, levels of internal or external directedness, motivations, and learning styles of the learners. You will document and analyze the challenges and needs that the learners describe. Finally, you will evaluate the appropriateness of the theories you have reviewed in this course for their usefulness in determining recommendations for creating an optimum learner environment for postsecondary learners.

You will document the interviews, descriptions, and analysis in a field experience report. The report should be 7-10 pages in length not counting the reference or cover pages, double-spaced, and in 12-point font. You must use current APA style guidelines for all internal citations and references and correct grammar, syntax, and spelling. You will include the researcher notes taken during the interviews as an appendix. You will attach the full annotations of the seven journal articles you referred to as an annotated bibliography in the appendix to the field study report.

Prepare for the interviews.

You will construct a set of interview questions to use during the interviews. The questions should be open-ended so that interviewees share more information rather than respond in short answers. You will design the interview questions to elicit responses about the following aspects of learning:

Learner characteristics

Your questions need to elicit clues to the learners' cultural identities, educational backgrounds, and other characteristics that theory suggests might affect their learning experience. You might start by asking the learners to describe themselves and then explore areas not fully described.

Learning styles

Encourage each learner to describe in detail a learning experience that he/she really enjoyed. You may be able to use this description to determine whether the learner is self-direct or externally directed as described in the course materials and to elicit information that might indicate a preference for auditory, visual, kinesthetic, or other styles of learning.

Motivation for learning

Construct questions to elicit the learners' academic goals. How do they believe completing this degree or learning experience will help them in their careers or lives? What do they describe as reasons for starting this educational postsecondary program?

Needs of the learner

Construct questions to elicit the learners' perceived needs. What do the learners describe they need to be successful in this learning experience (e.g., academic support, technology knowledge, a comfortable environment, handicapped accessibility, individual tutoring, financial aid, time, or child care)?

Conduct the interviews (1 hour to 1.5 hours in length each).

Identify two postsecondary learners from different subject areas to interview.

Arrange and conduct interviews with the selected postsecondary learners.

The interviews must be in person and arranged at a time and place that works well for you and the learners.

Clearly explain to the learners that this is an assignment for a graduate course and that neither the learners will be identified nor the information used beyond this course.

Ask permission to take notes during the interviews.

Attempt to ask the same initial questions of the postsecondary learners. Follow-up questions will depend on the responses and will vary.

Be respectful of the learners' time and do not extend the interviews beyond 1.5 hours.

Take researcher notes (nonverbal and verbal behavior descriptive observations):

Describe what is known about the learners prior to the interviews and explain the rationale for selecting these particular learners.

Attempt to capture as much of the learners' verbal responses as possible and take time immediately after the interviews to add details to the notes.

Include descriptions of the learners' nonverbal reactions as they listen to and answer each question.

Analyze the interview data by connecting data to theory.

Learning theory: Attempt to apply learning style theory to the information gathered during the interviews. Make note of what seems to fit, what does not, and what evidence from the interviews supports that conclusion. For your analysis, it may be useful to map out the characteristics of the different styles and attempt to match them to interview data.

Learner characteristic: Describe the learners and use the interview data to support the descriptions as completely as possible.

Motivation: Describe each learner's motivations for learning and use the interview data to support the conclusions.

Needs of the learners: Describe the learners' needs for learning and use the interview data to support your conclusions.

Additional observations: Describe anything inferred from the verbal and nonverbal cues not covered previously.

Develop two well-supported sets of recommendations for creating an optimum learner environment for one of the postsecondary learners you have interviewed.

Suggest practical strategies that postsecondary institutions might make to accommodate the needs of the learner.

Suggest practical strategies that the learner might make to accommodate his or her needs.

Applicability of adult learning theories to the learners:

Describe the ways in which learning theories appear to effectively explain or describe the behaviors or characteristics of the learners and the ways in which they were not as effective.

Describe how learning theory and learning styles might help develop appropriate programs and supports for these postsecondary learners.

Annotated bibliography:

Find, critically read, and annotate journal articles published within the last five years relevant to learners' characteristics and learning theories discussed in this course.

Each annotation must begin with the correct APA reference for the work.

The first sentence must evaluate the credibility of the authors and their expertise in the subject. The next three or four sentences must sum up the problem, methodology, and important findings. The final sentence must suggest how this information ties to the assignment and the field. The separate annotations for each article are compiled in alphabetical order by bibliographic reference into an annotated bibliography. This document and the articles themselves should be kept for future reference in the program and in practice.

Tasks:

Compile your field experience report. The completed report should include the following:

An introduction, including a brief description of the field experience project and report; the rationale for selecting the postsecondary learners; brief descriptions of the learners, their institutions, and their programs; and finally a brief description of the theories used to analyze the data collected. This entire section is usually less than a page in length.

The rationale for the interview questions and the kinds of responses the questions were designed to invoke. Include the full list of questions in the appendix.

A description of the interviews, including where and when they were held and any special circumstances that might have affected the data collection process.

A description of the researcher notes and how they were made.

A description of how the data was analyzed.

A description of how you used theory, research, and readings from the course to try to determine each learner's characteristics, preferred learning style, level of internal or external directedness, and motivation for learning.

A description of two recommendations for developing an optimum learning environment for one of the learners you have interviewed.