Tuning into General Education: Understanding Student Experience in Undergraduate Education

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dc.contributor.advisorScott, David M.
dc.contributor.advisorLund, Darren E.
dc.contributor.authorUlmer-Krol, Simon Francis
dc.contributor.committeememberBurwell, Catherine
dc.contributor.committeememberLucas, Jack
dc.date2021-02
dc.date.accessioned2020-12-15T21:29:09Z
dc.date.available2020-12-15T21:29:09Z
dc.date.issued2020-12-10
dc.description.abstractGeneral Education is a program that is generally defined as “the home for a well-rounded education that nurtures skills in communication, numeracy, and critical thinking” (Furman, 2013, p. 130) in post-secondary education. The purpose of this research was to investigate how students experience learning and living within a university in Western Canada that has structured all of its degree programs around General Education. Following case study methodology (Merriam, 2009), data was collected through multiple avenues, including: the review of four institutional and curricular documents, four semi-structured interviews with university faculty, and an online survey and three focus group interviews with current and graduated students. Interpretation of the data was guided by a hermeneutic lens (Smith, 2006), revealing that the student experience of General Education at this university is fundamentally experimental in nature, resulting in great divergences of experiences and understandings of the program. Students experience General Education as both transformative and hermeneutic, challenging and overcoming previously held assumptions and prejudices. Other participants, however, report their experiences as frustrating, irrelevant to their education, and interfering with their core studies. This study’s findings are significant in several respects, including providing the first investigation of a General Education program situated in a Canadian institutional context. These findings can further provide deeper insights into the tensions and incongruities that exist between the philosophical aims of General Education programs and how they are experienced by the students they are meant to serve.en_US
dc.identifier.citationUlmer-Krol, S. F. (2020). Tuning into General Education: Understanding Student Experience in Undergraduate Education (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/38437
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/112841
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisher.facultyWerklund School of Educationen_US
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.en_US
dc.subjectGeneral Educationen_US
dc.subjectCase Studyen_US
dc.subjectCurriculumen_US
dc.subjectHermeneuticsen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducationen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Adult and Continuingen_US
dc.subject.classificationEducation--Higheren_US
dc.titleTuning into General Education: Understanding Student Experience in Undergraduate Educationen_US
dc.typemaster thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEducation Graduate Program – Educational Researchen_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgaryen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts (MA)en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrueen_US
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