Experiential Learning from Curriculum to Career
Co-chairs: Mara Huber (University at Buffalo) Ed Beck (SUNY Oneonta)
Introduction
Experiential learning integrates direct experience and reflection within the curriculum, engaging students in hands-on activities and real-world problem-solving to enhance learning and cultivate high-value skills and competencies. In addition to benefits for students and employers, experiential learning can support broader impacts related to enrollments, retention, innovation and sustainable and economic development.
While approaches to experiential learning vary, SUNY has focused on curricular experiences that are structured, intentional and authentic (Applied Learning Initiative), and integrated within credit-based courses or programs of study. Experiences should have hands-on and/or real-world context and should be designed in concert with those who will be affected by or use them, or in response to a real situation. Additional expectations include intentional curricular design featuring the following minimal requirements, with opportunity for further customization and signature offerings.
- Planning: Experiential learning as a pedagogy requires an intentional approach, and the goals and learning objectives for the experience should be mapped out and clear to all involved. Faculty and external partners collaborate with students to define the outcomes and work of the project.
- Concrete Experience: Students take part in interactive activities, such as simulations, role-playing, experiments, or projects. Participants and mentors must ensure that students enter the experience with sufficient background and foundational education, as well as a plan to support a successful outcome.
- Reflective Observation: After engaging in these activities, students reflect on their experiences, discussing what they did, how they felt, and the insights they gained. This reflection deepens their understanding and helps them connect classroom learning to broader concepts.
- Integration: Students then integrate their reflections and experiences with classroom concepts, making connections between what they have learned in practice and the theories or lessons discussed in class. This step reinforces their understanding and helps them see the relevance of their experiences to the broader curriculum.
- Application to New Contexts: Students apply their integrated knowledge in new and different contexts, exploring how the concepts and skills they’ve learned can be adapted and used in various situations. This step encourages flexibility and deeper comprehension as they extend their learning beyond the initial experience.
Demand for experiential learning is growing, and in many respects, SUNY is already a leader in this space. Through targeted investment in instructional and pedagogical innovation through PIF and IITG grants, technology-supported models have been developed with the specific goal of scaling experiential learning beyond individual campuses. These include the Experiential Learning Network (ELN) model developed at the University at Buffalo, that supports integrated projects using the PEARL Project Framework (Prepare, Engage and Add value, Reflect, and Leverage) and digital badges, and SDG Project Challenges, that connect students with community-based sustainability partners for collaborative projects. SUNY COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning), hosted by SUNY Oneonta, works with SUNY campuses and institutions around the world to promote the design, delivery, and recognition of global learning experiences. These models can integrate and connect with other SUNY-supported innovations including micro-credentials and digital badges, online and distance learning, open educational resources, generative AI and multidisciplinary and translational research, to name just a few.
While the possibilities are limitless, the importance of the work calls for a focused and practical planning process, one that results in tangible outcomes that are inherently useful for SUNY campuses and programs, while also ambitious and generative, culminating in an actionable and sustainable plan for activating the benefits of experiential learning for all SUNY students while catalyzing broader impacts related to innovation, and economic and sustainable development.
Stakeholders
Who will engage?
- SUNY Provost
- SUNY Faculty
- SUNY Career Centers
- SUNY COIL Center and Campus COIL Leads
- SUNY Global Learning
- SUNY Experiential Learning Centers
- SUNY Service Learning Community
- SUNY Community Learning Centers
- SUNY Registrars
Who will benefit?
- Students
- Faculty
- Departments and programs
- campuses
- employers
- partners
- environment
Goals
- Develop a playbook of pedagogical resources, tools and frameworks for designing and integrating experiential learning within diverse course structures and formats
- Develop a common assessment system that campuses and SUNY System can adopt or adapt to assess impacts related to student success, retention, and growth in target competencies across programs and courses
- Develop opportunities for faculty and staff to learn structured models that support experiential learning and become resources within and outside their campuses
- Share successes across and beyond SUNY through webinars, the Annual Conference on Instruction and Technology (CIT), and other featured events
- Connect the diverse offices that are engaged in supporting this work into a dynamic community of practice and scholarship
- Provide guidance and support for how to utilize micro-credentials and digital badges to support and scale experiential learning and build value with key audiences and stakeholders.
Expected Outcomes/Deliverables
This task group will produce the following deliverables.
Fall 2024
- Highlight signature SUNY innovations and technology-based tools that campuses can leverage including SUNY COIL, PEARL model, digital badges and micro-credentials, OER and Generative AI and others.
- Integrate existing project management and reflective modules into SUNY OER Systems to allow campuses to adopt or adapt workflows, assessments, and frameworks.
- Identify campuses and groups of students who have historically lacked equitable access to robust opportunities for experiential learning and what support they need to be successful.
Spring 2025
- Provide a playbook for campuses based on the SUNY signature innovations and best practices for experiential learning.
- Deliver webinars, trainings, and/or showcases of best practices from within and outside of SUNY to help build capacity of campuses looking to expand access for their students to experiential learning opportunities.
- Develop presentation and proposal materials that are ready to be shared with key audiences and create a website or repository to house the materials
- Support communication and social media campaigns to showcase work and build further capacity
- Establishment of a SUNY community of practice (new or existing) to enable further innovation and collaboration around this work.
Develop recommendations for the SUNY Provost including building out proposal including various budget scenarios that leverage synergies with internal and external partners and stakeholders