Using methodologies of interviews and observation, this study focuses on three distinctive and successful kinds of experiential education: a summer arts program, an outdoor science program and a wilderness education program. The project applies insights from the programs to the central question of this thesis: How can experiential learning be utilized within the traditional classroom given the constraints of the No Child Left Behind Law and standardized teaching?

Group relations events are intended to enable transformation through learning, but such collective experiential events are not explicitly focused on enabling individual group members to derive meaning from them. This research aims to explicate individual learning from the experiences of a group relations event, in order to formulate a process for meaning-making post an intensive experiential event. Literature reviewed provides construct definitions of systems psychodynamic aspects, as well as insight, meaning-making, coaching methods and other approaches to facilitating meaning-making. Systems psychodynamics is the theoretical paradigm that informs a qualitative phenomenological research approach. Data analysis adopted hermeneutic phenomenology to allow for the interpretation of the rich data collected. Multiple case studies were adopted using multi-pronged data collection methods, including semi-structured interviews conducted before the event, as well as both a focus group and Free Association Narrative Interviews (FANI) conducted after the event. The results are reported by case, and this is followed with an interpretation of results by various systems psychodynamic themes. Furthermore, the relationship between personality types and defences mechanisms, with the associative techniques to use for each, have been set forth as additional findings in the thesis. The research hypothesis produced by the study is a meaning-making model to facilitate post-group relations event reflections and debriefing, with the aim of enabling insight formation, learning and adaption by individuals who have participated in such events. / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)

Research suggests that recently graduated librarians are failing to find work in the traditional library context and consequently are seeking employment in related fields; also that internships are recognized as a valuable component of professional training, that students find them useful in developing skills, with demand outstripping supply. This study consisted of setting up, running, and analyzing an experimental intern training programme for MLS students outside the traditional library context. Its aims were to : i) Develop and manage an intern training programme (ITP) specifically focused on mentoring recent graduates and students in the application of their library skills in a non-library work context; ii) Use this model to facilitate students and recent graduates in transferring their library skills to a non-library work context; iii) Gauge whether participants found the ITP effective in preparing them for finding work – either in a traditional library or outside the traditional library setting. Through setting up this programme and running it since 2013, this study has made a primarily applied contribution to the discipline. In this written component of the study the researcher offers the documentation of the programme as a live case study analysed using a combination of tools including surveys, interviews and both qualitative and quantitative methods. Findings show that interns expect to use internships in the job searching process; that they expect to acquire new skills not developed on their MLS programmes; that they would still prefer traditional library jobs but that they expect their careers to involve non-traditional work contexts. Related to this, participants believe the internship has raised awareness of a wider range of suitable jobs. This indicates that they see the nature of librarianship changing – something reinforced by the way they believe librarianship is evolving through, for example, integrating social media into the role of the librarian. This study and its findings contributes to raising awareness in the library sector of the changing nature of the world of work for the next generation of librarians and, in turn, contribute to MLS programmes by indicating how they may adapt as the 21st century workplace continues to evolve. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)