Kleniewski, Nancy

Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University

Bridgewater ReviewVolume 22 | Issue 1 Article 5Jun-2003College Experience and Real World Experience:What is the purpose of education?Nancy KleniewskiBridgewater State CollegeThis item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts.Recommended CitationKleniewski, Nancy (2003). College Experience and Real World Experience: What is the purpose of education?. Bridgewater Review,22(1), 3-5.Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol22/iss1/5BRIDGEWATER REVIEW                         JUNE 2003 3In 1916 John Dewey wrote that the formal education ofhis day encouraged students to be passive, focused oncognitive skills to the exclusion of other abilities, anddiscouraged students from reflecting on or making judg-ments about ideas. Dewey thought that genuine learn-ing could take place only when people focused theirattention and energies on solving genuine dilemmas. Heargued that before students could think, they had toexperience something. Only when they saw that theiractions had consequences could they reflect on the rela-tionship between those actions and abstract ideas.Dewey’s critique sounds all too familiar to some con-temporary students and professors who feel frustratedby focusing on dry facts and theories disconnected fromreal life. A number of faculty members, including someat Bridgewater, have devised ways of using real-worldexperiences to enhance student learning. Such “experi-ential learning” encompasses a variety of activitiesincluding internships, service learning, foreign studytours, and field research. In experiential education, the activities in which stu-dents engage are not simply enhancements to their edu-cation but are an integral part of their education. Whenstudents perform unpaid work as interns, conductresearch for clients, or volunteer on service projects,they have an opportunity to participate in the genuinelearning that Dewey advocated. What they are studyingand learning really matters to them because they areanalyzing real problems and trying to solve them.Involvement in issues outside of the classroom helpsstudents create coherence in their education. It encour-ages them to make connections between the knowledgethey gain in different places and different times and toapply it in tangible ways to real events. Unlike cram-ming facts for an exam and quickly forgetting them,these learning experiences engage students on multiplelevels and help them incorporate the knowledge in deep-er, longer-lasting ways.The fact that students can learn in different (and somewould argue superior) ways based on real world experi-ences is not the only factor sparking an increased inter-est in experiential education. Most colleges and univer-sities include in their mission statements their commit-ment to community service. State-related institutionssuch as Bridgewater base that commitment on two fac-tors: we are supported by public funds and we exist toserve the citizens of the state. Many forms of experien-tial education are directly tied to such a service mission.Take, for example, the current debate about civil soci-ety. According to some observers, contemporary life inour culture is plagued by an unraveling of civil society,the absence of social bonds among groups, and a senseof atomism. In venues from political science journals tothe nightly news, observers discuss the social ills of alack of community. The popular press reports incidentsof highway rage and children left home alone while aca-demic studies report on increases in one-person house-holds and people bowling alone. In fact, the title of thewell-known book Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam hasbecome a kind of shorthand for the unraveling of civilsociety. At the same time, there is a growing body of work onfactors that can strengthen civil society, especiallyfocusing on what is usually called “social capital.” Socialcapital consists of social ties, social norms, bonds oftrust, and other organizational features that helpgroups create and maintain cohesion. Putnam himselfas well as other researchers have pointed out that com-munities with strong social ties among residents tendto have strong political and economic institutions aswell. One important component of social capital isagency, or the ability to make a difference in the world.Some recent research points out that simply being amember of an organization does not necessarily givepeople a sense of efficacy. If people identify with agroup and work collectively to solve problems, howev-er, they can replace feelings of powerlessness with effec-tiveness and learn the habit of participating in publiclife. Colleges and universities that encourage experientiallearning can contribute to and support social capital intheir surrounding communities. In a growing numberof college communities, including Bridgewater, teamsof faculty, students, and residents work together onresearch devoted to solving problems and improving thequality of life. This teamwork provides valuable learn-College Experience and RealWorld Experience: What is the purpose of education? by Nancy KleniewskiPhotograph by David WilsonCOLLEGE EXPERIENCE AND REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE  NANCY KLENIEWSKIing to community members, especially when they aretreated as partners in the research rather than as sub-jects of the research. It can also help reduce feelings ofhelplessness and contribute to community cohesion.Students engaged in such real-world experiences, too,benefit from their engagement with the community.Engaging in experiential education can be a powerfullytransformative moment for students, assisting theirintellectual development by giving meaning to theireducation. As a faculty member, I regularly heard fromstudents such statements as, “I learned more in thatone [internship/research project/service learning pro-ject] than in all my coursework put together.” Initiallydismayed by that statement, I learned to recognizethat allowing students to apply their knowledge offcampus helps them mature as learners and encouragesthem to take responsibility for their own developmentas scholars. The students also gain a sense of pride asthey move from being recipients of knowledge to con-tributors.Public institutions of higher education should have aspecial interest in real-world learning. In addition tofostering the intellectual development of young peopleand perhaps some sense that we should help themlearn practical skills, public institutions also have anobligation to educate future citizens. Although theterm may sound old-fashioned, there is currently arenewed interest in and commitment to education forcivic virtue. Widely read publications such as TheChronicle of HigherEducation have publishedarticles arguing that insti-tutions of higher educa-tion are responsible foreducating citizens to bethoughtful, active partici-pants in the nation’spolitical and civic life. Higher education caninfluence students’ civicidentities because devel-opmental psychologistssuggest that adolescenceis a critical period fordeveloping a sense of citi-zenship. Opportunitiesto participate in off-cam-pus organizations andprojects during highschool and college can,they hold, help young people develop lifelong valuesand character traits such as honesty, justice, socialresponsibility, and tolerance. These traits encouragestudents to value citizenship and to make positive con-tributions to civic life as adults. Service learning programs are a particularly good way ofmaking connections between students and communitygroups. Service learning consists of participation inorganized projects that meet identified communityneeds while permitting the students to reflect on theiractivities in a way that furthers their understanding ofcourse material. In service learning programs, studentsmay provide direct services to populations in need orthey may perform research, education, advocacy, oroutreach for such groups. Service learning is different from both volunteer workand internships. It differs from volunteer activitybecause it is structured so the service is part of the cur-riculum, not an extra- or co-curricular experience. Inservice learning courses, community service is integrat-ed into credit-bearing coursework so the service activityis a learning opportunity related to other assignments.Students are encouraged to reflect on how the learningthey gain in the classroom affects and is affected bytheir community experience. Service learning differsfrom internships because internships are pre-profes-sional experiences in which students prepare for futurecareers. Although it is possible that students might sub-sequently enter a profession related to their volunteerBSC students participated in a Spring BreakHabitat for Humanity project in Florida in 2001.BRIDGEWATER REVIEW                         JUNE 2003 5experience, their status in a service-learning project isthat of an educated amateur rather than a junior profes-sional. Many service-learning projects are conducted inteams of students, often from different majors with dif-ferent skills and interests, so the students have theopportunity to learn from each other and to develop asa team, fostering a sense of social responsibility.As an example, participation in a Habitat for Humanityproject could be done as volunteer work, as an intern-ship, or as service learning. As volunteer work, the typeof participation probably most familiar to us, studentswould donate time as laborers to help build a Habitathouse in the spirit of community service. As an intern-ship, a student in marketing could develop a marketingcampaign for Habitat to apply his or her classroomknowledge and gain practical professional experience.As a service-learning project, students could work inteams to assist families about to move into Habitathouses, to help develop ways of making the housesmore environmentally efficient, to develop an outreachprogram for Habitat to recruit volunteers, or any otherset of activities that would be useful for Habitat andprovide a learning experience for the students.Carefully constructed service learning projects canopen students to many civic issues of which theywould otherwise be unaware. When I lived in upstateNew York, I was asked by a relief agency to recruit ateam of students to conduct focus group research onrefugees’ experiences being resettled in Rochester. Myteam of three students had to learn not only how toconduct focus groups but also something about the cul-tures of Bosnia, Haiti, and Viet Nam, (the three coun-tries from which large numbers of refugees were goingto Rochester) how to deal with resettlement bureaucra-cies, and probably most significantly, how to adopt adivision of labor and ensure that all the work wasaccomplished. Because they were accountable to anoutside agency, they knew that their deadlines werereal and that their product would have an immediateimpact on people’s lives. In their reflections on the pro-ject, the students stressed how much they matured aspeople and how much they learned about refugees, apopulation previously invisible to them as middle-class,suburban students.One other aspect of experiential education appeals tome greatly: it can make faculty work more collaborativeand integrated. Traditional research, especially in thehumanities and social sciences, tends to encourage afaculty member to carve out a niche shared with a fewother colleagues around the nation or the world ratherthan to engage with others on the same campus or inthe community. Even when a faculty member is a goodteacher and a productive scholar, it is easy to becomeisolated in one’s own classroom, lab, or library.Experiential education, on the contrary, encourages fac-ulty to work in teams, to collaborate with colleagues indifferent disciplines, and to extend their expertise to thesurrounding community. It encourages and demandsthat faculty learn from students about how to integrateaction components into coursework. It helps facultystretch the boundaries of their own intellectualinquiries and broaden out rather than narrow in ontheir areas of interest.Experiential education can also contribute to facultysatisfaction by helping faculty members integrate thedisparate demands of teaching, scholarship, and servicethat are expected in the profession. Rather than feelingfrustrated and pulled in three ways, faculty memberscan build on their scholarly interests by incorporatingthem into their classes in a way that provides activelearning for their students and a valuable service for anoff-campus constituency.  Since joining the Bridgewater community last summer,I have learned that many BSC faculty members incor-porate experiential education into their courses. Spacewill not permit me to list here all of the individual fac-ulty members who are contributing to experiential edu-cation, but I am in the process of collecting theinformation and would welcome any contributions. Ihope we can publicize the extent of Bridgewater’s com-munity engagements, including service learning,applied and interdisciplinary research, internships, col-laborations with K-12 schools, professional develop-ment for off-campus clients, performances, exhibits,study tours, economic development projects, and otherexperiences. I extend my congratulations to those whoalready use this powerful learning tool and encourageothers to “experiment with experience.” —Nancy Kleniewski is Provost and Vice President forAcademic Affairs. This contribution is adapted from her article, “Changing Communities and Changing Universities:Why Should We Care? What Can We Do?” In CommunityPolitics and Policy, edited by Nancy Kleniewski andGordana Rabrenovic, JAI Press, 1999.

College Experience and Real World Experience: What is the purpose of education?

http://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=br_rev

College Experience and Real World Experience: What is the purpose of education?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University