Advocating for Experiential Learning Programs as Change Agents in Higher Education: Imagining a Justice Orientation that Centers Students and Partners while Enriching Practice

Excerpt The National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE) Fellows are academic professionals who engage in a community of practice and explore their practitioner-scholar identity through research and scholarly inquiry into experiential education. During some monthly meetings, the discussion focused on how to infuse equity, diversity, and inclusion in internship programs. The fellows ruminated on strategies to create quality internship programs and how to embed experiential learning opportunities into the curriculum so more students could access them. Collectively, these comments highlight what is not always stated but ever-present; that is, the fellows’ justice orientation. The monthly meeting of NSEE Fellows consistently explored our practices with experiential education programs, from internships and working with employers to teaching internship courses. During each meeting, the NSEE Fellows interrogated their practice, raised questions about experiential education programs, and inquired into the most promising approaches that fostered student success in the context of their higher education institutions. The core question that emerged during these meetings became: What are you advocating for in your experiential education program to foster student success

Experiential Learning Educators as Tempered Radicals and Social Change Agents in Higher Education: The NSEE Fellows Program as Reflective Practitioner-Scholars

Excerpt Experiential learning educators have long fought to justify this form of active learning in their curriculum (Hesser, 2013), and the past several decades have seen a resurgence of, and renewed interest in, experiential learning through forms of hands-on learning, such as: service-learning/community-based learning, educational internships, global study abroad experiences, and undergraduate research opportunities (Kuh, 2008). Given its distinct elements in planning, design, and implementation of teaching and learning (Heinrich and Green, 2020), and its potential outcomes that can lead to deep learning (Kuh, 2008), experiential learning requires educators to contribute ample amounts of time and energy in the planning and execution of such courses and programs. More importantly, another reason educators may utilize this pedagogical approach is to practice and advocate for a different paradigm of teaching and learning