Junior Year Experiential Learning

Description

At DePaul, students taking experiential learning courses as part of the third year requirement in Liberal Studies engage in an inductive process of "learning by doing and reflecting." They participate in specified activities outside the classroom and use course-related theory to reflect on that experience. Reflection may include but is not limited to such activities as analyzing, comparing, and/or selectively reconstructing the experience in light of particular theories. Nationwide, the most influential model for understanding experiential learning is set out by David Kolb in Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development (1984). Describing four components of what he calls "the learning cycle," Kolb explains that learners "must be able to involve themselves fully, openly, and without bias in new experiences; they must be able to observe and reflect on these experiences from many perspectives; they must be able to create concepts that integrate their observations into logically sound theories; and they must be able to use these theories to make decisions and solve problems" (236). The Experiential Learning Oversight Committee finds this description helpful in suggesting necessary components of experiential learning courses. On the one hand, experiential learning places considerable responsibility on students for their own learning. Students fulfill the requirement in their junior year because much of the learning necessitates foundational knowledge and sufficient maturity to manage the independence essential in such an experience. At the same time, experiential learning courses at DePaul should help students actively engage in the reflective as well as the participatory aspects of this type of learning.

Experiential learning work may take place in a regularly scheduled course or an approved internship, or in an independent study format approved on a case-by-case basis. All such courses may be offered in the student’s major and can count for both major field and Liberal Studies requirements. Students who elect this option will substitute a Liberal Studies domain elective (from outside the students' major field area) for the Experiential Learning requirement. When more than four credit hours are earned from such an experience – for example, an eight-hour internship – four hours may be counted toward Liberal Studies requirements and four hours toward major program requirements. Any work that meets the experiential learning requirement must be approved by the Liberal Studies Council.

Forms of Experiential Learning

The Liberal Studies Program recognizes the following forms of experiential learning:
Study abroad, either through term-length programs or through a shorter study tour;

• Domestic studies, bringing the student to a geographic location other than Chicago;



• Service learning;



• Internships;



• Cooperative learning, involving alternating periods of work and study;

Original research projects, individual or group, involving extensive fieldwork or work in the laboratory. Such projects may take place as independent studies or within a course structure.

Goals of the Junior Year Experiential Learning Requirement

The over-arching goal for courses fulfilling this requirement is that students will be able to draw connections between their experience outside the classroom and course content taken in conjunction with those experiences. Students will demonstrate this active exchange between theory and experience in assignments appropriate to the individual course. In general, students should be able to:

• apply particular concepts from readings, lectures, etc. to an analysis of lived experiences in the settings provided by the course;



• use the experiences provided by the course to construct and articulate a new understanding of issues related to the course;



• use their new understanding to make decisions and solve problems related to the course, whether at the setting provided by the course, or in other assignments.

Along the way towards demonstrating these specific learning goals, students will necessarily address several of the “Ten Learning Goals for DePaul University Graduates” (TLG). In particular, the interchange between theory and practice outlined above calls on students to develop their skills in “critical and creative thinking” (TLG #6). All EL courses will also contribute to students gaining mastery of course content (TLG #1) and to articulating their new understanding in written assignments and/or class discussion (TLG #2).

Other University learning goals will be addressed in some courses but not others. For example, independent research projects will promote students’ “capacity to work toward accomplishing goals both independently and cooperatively”(TLG #3), while study abroad programs and community-based service learning courses will focus more on promoting “knowledge of and respect for individuals and groups who are different from themselves” (TLG #4), along with the “development of a service-oriented, socially responsible value and ethical framework” (TLG #5) and “self-reflection/life skills” (TLG #9).

Standards

1. Credit is awarded for the attainment of learning outcomes through experiential activity and not for experiential activity alone. Experience must be current. Credit will not be given for prior learning or "life experience." This does not preclude, however, experiential courses that are directly linked to student’s current experiences and current work assignments.



2. The number of hours or the amount of time students engage in experiential activity needs to be specified in advance: "experiential hours" refers to the amount of time students are involved in the experience or in the field. It is recognized that the minimum number of experiential hours will vary from one form of experiential learning to another. However, it is recommended that the number of student experiential hours be no less than 25 hours of contact time per quarter for all varieties of experiential learning other than internships. For internships, the number of student experiential hours should be no less than 100 hours of contact time, in keeping with other internships across the university.



3. Experiential learning courses necessitate a specified minimum number of instructional hours where students and faculty engage in reflection, discussion, and processing the experience. Given the amount of time students commit to "experiential hours," faculty-organized and facilitated instructional hours on a per quarter basis may be proportionately reduced from the standard 30 hours of instructional time per quarter. It is recommended that experiential learning courses have a minimum of approximately 15 hours of instructional time that is organized and facilitated by the faculty of record. It is recognized that the forms that "instructional time" can take may vary based on the particular learning objectives and needs of the experiential learning course.



4. Students must produce some tangible product or artifact (e.g. a paper, art piece, research report, video, project, etc.) that demonstrates that they have acquired certain skills, knowledge, and insights. The product or artifact needs to reflect the relationship of the learning outcomes to the experiential activities in which the students have been engaged.



5. It is recommended that reflection activities and assessment of student progress occur periodically throughout the course, and not just at the end.



6. The staff or faculty member is responsible for facilitating reflection and providing an academic context for the student’s experience.



7. The staff or faculty member is responsible for providing support and feedback to the student both in oral and written form. The faculty member provides evaluation and assessment of the student development process and is responsible for the assignment of a final course grade.

Class Size

Class sizes for experiential learning courses should be negotiated with the deans of the Colleges offering these courses, within a range of 15 to 22 students per course. Although it is recognized that these courses are more labor intensive and therefore should have more modest class sizes, it is also recognized that different courses make different demands on the faculty. Thus, courses in which faculty members arrange the field sites and visit and supervise these sites should be smaller than those courses in which others handle placement and supervision. Courses in which faculty members meet individually with each student need to be smaller than those in which faculty meet with students in groups. Course proposals should make clear how the class will be structured and what the responsibilities of the faculty will be so that an appropriate class size can be determined. Experiential learning courses arranged as independent studies can be accumulated by a faculty member for a course load reduction equivalency. Faculty should inform the appropriate unit head (e.g., Departmental Chair) upon completion of an approved experiential learning independent study.

Experiential Learning within Regular Courses

Faculty may allow students to fulfill the experiential learning requirement by offering an experiential learning option (e.g. service learning) as part of a regular course. In this case, the experiential component of the course needs to fulfill all standards and guidelines for experiential learning outlined in this document. To have such experiential course work apply toward the experiential requirement in Liberal Studies, the proposed experiential learning option needs to be approved by the Experiential Learning Advisory Committee. The student/instructor will need to complete a form at the conclusion of the course, providing information on and certifying the nature of the experiential work accomplished by the student. The form can be obtained from the Chair of the Experiential Learning Advisory Committee.

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