Experiential Learning - broadly defined as “learning by doing,” refers to pedagogical approaches that develop students’ skills in bridging theory and practice; critical reflection; relational work; and authentic projects with real world impact.
This academic year the Office of Sustainability, the Mead Art Museum, and the Center for Community Engagement are hosting a six session faculty series around integrating experiential learning opportunities into courses and curriculum! Funding is available to help support the development of exercises, labs, assignments, field trips, and whole courses that have an experiential learning component.
Join fellow faculty and staff members for these interactive and social meet ups, hosted at the sites below. Each meet up runs from 3:30 - 5 pm. The first half hour from 3:30 - 4 PM is for mixing, mingling, and socializing with drinks (beer, wine, soft drinks) and snacks provided, followed by a short overview and then interactive brainstorming session on curricular opportunities with each host organization starting at 4 PM.
Sign up for the next event and mark your calendars for the rest of the series:
September 22: Sustainability and Campus as Lab
October 20: Book and Plow Farm
November 17: Archives & Special Collections, Frost Library
March 23: Mead Art Museum
April 20: Emily Dickinson Museum
For more information contact Wes Dripps, Director of Sustainability.
With support from the Davis Educational Foundation, Amherst College is pleased to offer curricular development grants to faculty members who are, or wish to integrate experiential learning into their courses. Funding is available to develop or redesign an entire course ($2,500) or a single assignment ($500). Additional funding of up to $2,500 is available for course related expenses.
The Davis "Embedded Experiential Learning Across the Curriculum" grant is intended to deepen learning for all members of Amherst’s diverse student body by embedding experiential learning opportunities throughout the curriculum. Funded courses and assignments will build on the success of early experiments to build the skills, tools, and strategies needed to sustain learning by doing across disciplines and majors at the college. For the purpose of this grant, experiential learning is grounded in four primary methods: cohort learning, community building, tackling meaningful challenges, and skill development.
The funds are administered by a collaborative group that includes Sarah Barr (Center for Community Engagement), Emily Potter-Ndiaye (Mead Art Museum), and Weston Dripps (Office of Sustainability).
More information about course and assignment development grants along with the application can be found here.