The Review of Higher Education

Creating effective learning experiences in higher education requires understanding students’ epistemologies, or their ways of knowing. This article reports students’ perceptions of their academic experiences during college from three different epistemologies. These epistemologies and gender-related patterns within them were identified through annual interviews with students from the freshman to the senior year. Epistemologies range from unquestioned acceptance of knowledge to self-authored knowledge. Using students’ experiences from each of these perspectives, this article suggests forms of pedagogy that connect with students’ epistemologies.