Making sense of experiential education in Canada: the four lenses of faculty sensemaking

Abstract

Discussions about experiential education abound in the Canadian higher education sector, as well as more broadly across the international landscape. In Canada, experiential learning opportunities are increasingly embedded within institutional mission statements, administrative priorities, and pedagogical frameworks. Despite its spread, research has tended to overlook faculty perspectives, including how they make sense of experiential education and its impact on their professional roles or disciplinary priorities. To shore up these gaps, this article reports the findings from in-depth semi-structured interviews (n = 47) with faculty members across eight disciplines from six universities. Drawing on international literature on experiential education and organizational sensemaking, the findings of this study reveal four sensemaking lenses that faculty use to make sense of experiential learning: the disciplinary lens, the institutional lens, the pedagogical lens, and the professional lens. Both collectively and individually, these lenses have implications for the successful institutionalization of experiential education, as they are the frames through which faculty form meaning and enact their responses. By distinguishing these lenses, this article reinforces sensemaking as a process of bricolage and that faculty draw on multiple lenses to understand organizational changes. The article concludes with recommendations for future research on faculty sensemaking.