Participation Expectations of Students in Experiential Settings

Abstract

"Learning in an experiential setting provides the sincere and involved participant an opportunity to internalize the information in that course. The new information becomes “owned” because the messages are emotionally sensed as well as intellectually absorbed. Faculty members often sense that students are eager and ready for this kind of learning environment. But, - what are the expectations and operating expectations of our students? To attempt to answer this question The Experiential Socialization Index (ESI) developed by Sanders and Yanouzas (1983) was used at the first class meeting and at the end of the experientially designed course. This study found that there was no statistically significant difference in the response patterns of the pre and post test surveys. The data was subjected to multivariate analysis of variance used in the SAS program package. A further conclusion is that the power of an educational system that is largely ruledependent seems quite evident. "