RESIDENTIAL LEARNING: A SAFEHOUSE FOR STUDY AND GROWTH

Abstract

In June 1998, two life-changing events occurred, affecting me profoundly; I began a doctoral program and I was diagnosed with breast cancer. A major requirement of the program was a two-week residency, each year for the three years of the program. I began the first residency a week after surgery and two weeks before I was to start chemotherapy treatments. The impact this residential experience had on me and, as I was to discover later, on others, was so intense and emotional, that it became the topic of my research and consequently, of my dissertation. The purpose of my research was to discover the affective impact a residential learning experience had on the participants of a graduate degree program. My heuristic study related my thoughts, feelings, perceptions, etc., regarding my own residential learning experience, and through interviews, the experiences of others.

After the data was collected and analyzed, eight themes emerged. From these I concluded that residential learning did indeed impact its participants and that learning in residence enhanced both the cognitive and the affective domains. The findings of this study indicated that forming and building relationships, formal and informal learning, and individual change does occur during a residential experience.