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Luci Gommers
Title
Dr.
Last Name
Gommers
First name
Luci
Email
luci.gommers@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 2634
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PublicationCross-Contextual Learning through Students' Eyes: A case study of problems and supporting measures in cross-contextual learning scenariosThis study addresses the student perspective of cross-contextual learning in higher education. Due to several societal changes, students learning biographies have become (and still become) increasingly cross-contextual. It was assumed that cross-contextuality carries the potential to foster student learning. However, it was also assumed that spreading learning over yet more and different (kinds of) contexts bears with it certain risks to the fragmentation of learning, when relatedness and the integration of learning experiences are not activey considered. This study was borne from the current literature seeming to offer little about how students perceive problems and supportive measures in cross-contextual learning scenarios, how the student perspective differs from that of the teacher, and how the student perspective becomes a part of the educational design process for cross-contextual learning scenarios. A multiple case study design was implemented in order to address these research gaps and academic questions. Four projects were researched, in which students current learning contexts were analysed, and supporting measures were developed with regards to cross-contextual learning. The processes were taken under the loop to enquire and compare perspectives, and to research the involvement of the student perspective within the educational design processes. In the study, both single case and cross-case analyses were applied. The results show that students experience problems across different dimensions. Students reported cross-contextual learning, especially through the involvement of authentic learning contexts and tasks (both physical and digital), having the potential to support and foster student learning. However, the relations between contexts and the integration of learning experiences across these contexts need to be actively supported. The different problems and supportive measures were therefore identified and presented in the study. The student and the teacher perspective were found to be partly similar and partly different. Teachers derived different consequences from the problems they (often) similarly recognised to the students, but valued the problems and supportive measures in different ways. Students and teachers were, independent from their means of involvement, satisfied with the involvement of the student perspective in the design processes. However, reflection and interpretation of the results led to questioning the need for more collaborative approaches between students and teachers in the design of (even more) cross-contextual learning scenarios. Based on the results, a model for a collaborative approach is suggested that considers both the potential and the inherent risks of cross-contextual learning.Type: doctoral thesis