In the Valley of the Giants: Cultivating Intentionality and Integration

• Main Author: Miriam Carey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Georgia Southern University 2012-01-01
• Series: International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/ij-sotl/vol6/iss1/7

This study examines the cultivation of intentionality and integration in a foundation level General Education class: Communities and Societies. Three research tasks were set within the context of a grounded theoretical approach: codification of indicators for both intentionality and integration, and an examination of student learning logs. Intentionality was helpfully scaffolded by targeted questions for reflection while integration appeared more spontaneously, apparently as a result of the course design and delivery but also possibly as a result of the nature of free-styling journaling. Learning logs suggested students found full class discussions, continuous small groups, and journaling itself to be the most consistently useful in terms of their learning. One student described him/herself as a sleeping giant whose excitement for learning was re-awakened in this course. The suggestion is that more explicit cultivation of both intentionality and integration may help other sleeping giants (both students and faculty) to awaken.