Exploring the link between experiential learning and happiness in the classroom: empirical evidence in Chile, Mexico and Spain

Abstract

In the last decade the adoption of virtual learning environments in institutions of Higher Education have undergone a great growth worldwide. As a consequence of this progress of virtual environments at universities, there are many theoretical and empirical studies focused on examining the impact of experiential learning and teaching on students' level of satisfaction in the classroom.

However, it is important to differentiate the impact of these factors in order to improve the student satisfaction in the classroom. In this sense, despite the diverse skills and capabilities of students in different university contexts, fortunately, there is evidence that learning and teaching processes in Higher Education can be improved in a short time through innovative and interactive didactic methodologies. Specifically in the European Space of Higher Education, empirical evidences and interventions related to these topics have improved student academic performance in the classroom and furthermore, this experiential learning process has increased satisfaction of students at universities.

Recently, happiness in the classroom has become an important construct to analyze in Higher Education. However, definitions of happiness are difficult to measure and for this reason, the starting point of this study is related to simple conceptual frameworks based on theories put forth by Piaget and Inhelder (1971) and Brunner (1977).

In this paper, a wide spatial representation of cross-sectional nature was conducted at universities in, Chile, Mexico and Spain between November 2016 and March 2017, within the framework of an international research of teaching innovation supported by the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso, Chile. This study presents an original scale derived from the Spanish version of the Subjective Happiness Scale, which has previously shown good levels of internal consistency in a study with Chilean university students. The total number of students in this experiment was 476 and the ultimate aim of this work is to explore the impact exerted by different combinations of experiential learning and teaching designs on happiness in the classroom, considering some skills and personal characteristics of the students.

The outline of this paper is the following. First, a conceptual framework on approaches to teaching, learning and happiness in the classroom is conducted. Second, a methodological procedure of research related to a parsimonious instrument to measure the happiness in the classroom is presented. Third, an overall analysis of the results is carried out. Fourth, the last section is devoted to the analysis of the discussions, conclusions, implications and further research.