Increase student engagement in your courses
Benefits of integrating experiential education in your courses
There are many benefits of incorporating EE strategies in one’s course curriculum. Above all, is the enriched teaching and learning environment that blending theory with practice creates, resulting in deeper learning for students and greater satisfaction for course directors. Further, EE can be a vehicle for integrating teaching, research and service. In-course community based learning strategies and community based research strategies; in particular, lend themselves to this type of integration resulting in the weaving of one’s research interests and one’s desire to give back to the community with one’s teaching. EE strategies can also be used in conjunction with eLearning strategies to bring an even more exciting and impactful experience to the students. Finally, all of this adds considerably to one’s teaching portfolio and other forms of recognition.
Experiential Education Strategies
Course Focused Experiential Education
Experiential Activities
Students apply theory and course content to concrete experiences that encourage reflection and conceptualization.
Community Focused Experiential Education
Community Based Learning (CBL)
Community partners are invited into the classroom to present pre-defined problems, questions or issues to be explored and analyzed.
Community Based Research (CBR)
Students work on a research project that has been developed through collaboration between a community partner and a researcher.
Community Service Learning (CSL)
Students engage in activities that address community needs which are also designed to promote learning goals.
Work Focused Experiential Education Placements
Course-Based and Program-Based placements
Students engage in activities where they practice course specific competencies; they receive course credit, but (generally) are not paid.
Internships
Internships are paid, full-time, one-time, supervised work experiences. The student produces a work term report which is reviewed and graded by the faculty supervisor.
Co-operative Education Programs
Students alternate between periods of paid, full-time, supervised work experiences and academic terms.
Share your Experiential Education Initiatives
Resources
- A Case for Change – Experiential Education Integration at York University
- A Pan-University document outlining the features and benefits of EE.
- A Practical Guide Work-integrated Learning
- Effective Practices to Enhance the Educational Quality of Structured Work Experiences Offered through Colleges and Universities
- Experiential Education Course Coding Guide
- Establishing a Common Language for Experiential Education
- Descriptive terms and a common language were developed to identify Experiential Education (EE) strategies and facilitate conversations about the range of possibilities for innovative use of EE in teaching and learning.
- EE Resources
- York University provides a wealth of resources to assist educators in developing and implementing EE projects. A complete list of resources can be found on The Teaching Commons website.