Summer 2005
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Summer 2005 |
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 By
Russell GarthExecutive Vice President Have we reached the point where all students are expected to participate in experiential learning beyond the campus? Perhaps. On June 26–28 at Mount St. Mary’s University (MD) as a concluding activity in CIC’s Engaging Communities and Campuses program, representatives from 20 institutions convened to examine the state of the practice in experiential learning. Intentionally, we cast a wide net—service-learning, internships, teacher education practicums, nursing clinicals, and scientific research in partnership with other organizations. All of these approaches share several key characteristics. First, they involve students working in settings beyond the campus. Second, they are directly relevant to particular academic programs. Finally, they involve partnerships with other organizations (community agencies, businesses, schools, hospitals, and research field stations or labs), so students are not only pursuing learning goals but are also furthering the work of those organizations. As our discussions proceeded (eventually adding performing arts to this mix), it became apparent that very few students, if any, would not take part in this form of learning. Indeed, a number of participants quickly confirmed that getting to 100 percent of the student body was precisely their goal. They wanted the power of experiential learning to be part of the educational fabric of the institution—for all students. A Decade of Engagement Over the past ten years, such learning has become an important component of many educational programs. This engagement with broader communities has been propelled both by student interest in ways to apply classroom learning and by faculty recognition of the educational value of such activities. Service-learning has certainly entered the educational mainstream during this decade. Wagner College (NY), for example, has joined service-learning with learning communities for all undergraduates. Tusculum College (TN) has developed an entire curriculum around the civic arts, with service-learning as an integral element. Significantly, this engagement is paying dividends for community organizations and residents as well as for students. Allegheny College’s (PA) Center for Economic and Environmental Development, the urban research program at Johnson C. Smith University (NC), and the environmental studies program at Warren Wilson College (NC) all provide brain power and leg work to address local issues. 
Also new in this decade is a growing realization in science departments of the benefits of participating in research outside the campus lab. Benedictine College (KS) students and faculty, for example, conduct studies for the Army Corps of Engineers on a Missouri River wetlands converted from agricultural use. Lycoming College’s (PA) Clean Water Institute provides research opportunities for students in 14 different watershed areas. Nationally, the number of undergraduate institutions participating in the Council for Undergraduate Research has increased five-fold. But maybe of even greater interest are the ways that long-standing experiential learning approaches have evolved. Teacher education programs at the College of St. Catherine (MN) and Ohio Dominican University now engage prospective teachers in the schools throughout their four years, not just in practice teaching during their senior year. Nursing clinicals at Holy Family University (PA) and Wagner focus more on community needs than they did ten years ago. Internships in business have also progressed, now encompassing at Lesley University (MA) business strategies in nonprofit organizations and nonprofit centers in businesses. In fact, businesses are evolving as partners, adding internship coordinators and focusing on their social responsibilities to their communities. The Big Tent of Experiential Learning Three overall themes emerged from the meeting. One is a growing sense of the big tent—coordinators of all of these forms of experiential learning appreciated being in the conversation together. From that conversation, a second theme emerged. The expectations by students and expectations of students were widely shared. The kinds of benefits that students gained and the types of institutional support that they needed seemed common to all of these forms of experiential education. We appear to have gotten past the internship and service-learning arguments of a decade ago about which was the better approach for resume-building or building a social conscience. Finally, some institutions are beginning to design ways to coordinate programs within the big tent. Augsburg College (MN) has established a Center for Service, Work, and Learning that brings much of this together. This fall, Hendrix College (AR) begins its new Odyssey program that requires students to develop a transcript that includes a range of experiential learning opportunities. Within the private college and university sector, the idea seems to be growing that at least some aspects of education should take place in the world beyond the campus—for 100 percent of students. Independent |
