By Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel
This blog post is a bit different because it includes a call for collaboration at the end. But first, I’ll give some context what this is all about.
This academic year I have moved into a new role: I’m the new Experiential Learning Lead at the School in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Glasgow. In this role, I will be reviewing and creating opportunities for students to obtain practical, hands-on experiences during their studies that can help them develop crucial employability skills and explore future career avenues. The new Learning and Teaching Strategy 2036 at the University of Glasgow specifically highlights experiential learning as one strategic pillar in their vision statement: “Our vision is for all our students to have a high-quality, research grounded, educational experience that is futures focused, experiential and globally oriented” with “work-related elements will be built into all programmes” (Learning & Teaching Strategy 2036).
Indeed, involving students in experiential, work-based learning opportunities contribute positively to affective learning outcomes such as motivation, engagement, and confidence, but also enhances socio-communication skills (1). For example, I have taught a service-learning course for many years now where students learn about effective learning strategies and then design ‘How-To-Study’ workshops that they deliver to pupils in local schools in and around Glasgow (2). Teaching that course is one of the most rewarding aspects of my work. Students report how their confidence and communication skills increase through service-learning and our school partners keep returning year on year to continue the collaboration. Students also get to explore potential careers and find out what they enjoy or don’t enjoy. My experience with service-learning aligns with research into its benefits for students, community partners, instructors, and universities (3).
However, service-learning is only one way to engage students in experiential learning. In the past two months I have had the chance to learn about many more ways to implement experiential learning into the curriculum. It feels as if I have entered a brilliant rabbit hole. The Careers, Employability & Opportunity department at Uni Glasgow has developed an Experiential Learning Continuum to support identifying the range of practical, work-related opportunities (see figure below). I find the overarching categories of ‘Learning about work’, ‘Learning through work’, and ‘Learning in work’ helpful because it helps teachers to signpost to students where experiential learning is already happening. Students may not realise that specific classroom activities already involve opportunities that are directly connected to skill development or career exploration (e.g., real-world examples, guest speakers, problem-based learning). The framework also encourages designing new opportunities that move from classroom to workplace settings.
When it comes to experiential learning it is not only important that these experiences are authentic, but that they also provide students with agency (1). Agency can be achieved when students participate in the experiential learning activities. For example, employer-led challenges offer a structure for students to address a task set by an organisation. Within the set parameters, students have room to approach the task in different ways (i.e., agency). However, student agency can also happen as part of designing these experiential learning opportunities in the first place. Consequently, I set up an Experiential Learning Think Tank with Year 2, Year 3, and Year 4 undergraduate students in Psychology to co-create experiential learning opportunities with them – not just for them. As a first task, we will identify where experiential learning is already taking place and which categories are represented (i.e., learning about/through/in work). In a follow-up step, we will create plug-in activities to enhance experiential learning in underrepresented categories. The idea is to develop a toolbox for teachers with ready-made activities that they can use in their classroom.
