Unstable Ground: How Mentorship Altered Our View of Experiential and Active Education on Student Learning

Abstract

We, as two instructors in Business and Education, sought to explore the research question: is student learning impacted when instructors engage in peer-to-peer mentoring focused on improving understanding of experiential education and active learning in the post-secondary classroom? Within a sociological intrinsic case study framework, we began by defining experiential education, active learning, and peer-to-peer mentoring to situate if instructor interaction in this mentoring model impacts student learning. The data was triangulated for validity between academic literature, thematic coding of instructor/researcher writing, and student surveys. Results revealed that, even though instructors did find some challenges in implementing active learning in their classrooms, there was indication of an overall positive impact on student learning based on the inclusion of these pedagogies as discussed in peer-to-peer mentoring.