Authenticity and collaboration refer to notions of education as being grounded in the experience of the content and its relevance to matters outside the classroom. These matters can include career goals, social issues, political events, and the immediate community surrounding them.

Connected to “The Real World”

A number of students commented that an aspect of authenticity that was important to them was that instruction and relationships were connected to what was happening outside the classroom. Knowing that their education was relevant in the bigger picture supported engagement.

Mike: Fewer exams, less group-work and more tying in the outside world through providing relevant and detailed examples. I feel like examinations and in-person evaluations are good for only a small percentage of students.

Mary: I learned the most then just being in a more professional setting, and not having to do like I said those little check ins or those little school type things, just where I could be practicing my chosen profession really.

Claire: A couple of my profs at Laurier are very plugged in and involved in the community … so that’s always been really great when they tie it to local issues. I mean, even the basics of tying it to like big news stories is always very helpful I think especially in sociology, that’s so great because it’s like we talk about social theories, and then literally applying it in practice to what’s going on. I mean, it makes like the retention of those concepts and theories, a lot more concrete, very easy to like, hold on to and then give examples of later on and exams and stuff.

Openness

Openness or open-mindedness was referred to by students in terms of being aware, similar to the previous section, that there is a bigger world beyond the classroom. In these cases, students appreciated the willingness to acknowledge those spaces beyond the classroom not only in terms of the constraints of day-to-day living but in the sense of broadening a sense of the content presented in their courses.

Chandra: And you, as a professor or as a teacher to you cannot go into the classroom thinking you know everything. You have to allow space for yourself to also learn from your students.

Amandeep: It has to be a balance I think like reading the material but then also, you know, learning and still making, you know, keeping your mind open that other things do happen and making sure you bring in other presenters and stuff.

Cory: Because I’m in the environmental field I’ve [been] in like a very small program that was very supportive. Most of my professors were great. They were very progressive people who were very supportive and very open-minded and were generally on my side.

Reciprocity

A theme that emerged through interviews with the students was reciprocity, the idea that both instructor and student participate in learning and inquiry of one another and excavate understanding on that basis. Reminiscent of Brown and Palincsar’s (1989) reciprocal teaching model to support reading comprehension, this aspect of teaching and relationship building supported deep engagement and meaningfulness.

Chandra: His teaching is also like he’s building that collaborative, intellectual environment, where he wants the students to grow as well. And he’s also open to learning from us as students, which I think is the most conducive way to teach or be in higher education.

Lucy: And you know, actually explain things, let people ask questions make sure everybody kind of had an actual understanding or she’d read something and then actually just ask us how are you guys interpreting this, what do you think this means, so that we could have a full-on class discussion. I always found I did the best learning through that because I I needed sometimes clarification.