Kendall A. Trammell has the kind of résumé employers would notice. The University of Georgia senior has worked at the college newspaper, completed an internship in Washington, and is now studying in Spain.
Real-world opportunities like those are invaluable, she said. “That’s what sets you apart from other people.”
Soon, all undergraduates at Georgia will be required to pursue similar academic paths. The university announced last month that, as early as the fall of 2016, every incoming freshman will be required to participate in a hands-on learning experience in order to graduate. A growing number of large institutions are embracing experiential learning to enhance their students’ education. In his executive budget, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York dictated that the City and State Universities of New York should develop some kind of experiential-learning plan by June 1, 2016. Georgia is one of the largest public universities to make such opportunities compulsory for all students.
Experiential learning is a broader term for what George D. Kuh, an emeritus professor at Indiana University at Bloomington and director of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment, has called “high-impact practices.” He cites such experiences as study abroad, undergraduate research, service learning, and senior capstone projects — all of which require students to apply their classroom learning to the world outside. Research shows that such experiences greatly improve students’ learning and progress through college, according to the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Yet there are obstacles. Hiring an experiential-learning coordinator is hard for public colleges to justify in a time of shrinking budgets.
Then there is the argument that, despite the hype, experiential learning isn’t achieving its promised results. Though educators argue it can encourage students’ personal growth and improve their career trajectories, recent studies have cast doubts on those claims. The tension on both sides of the experiential-learning debate reflects larger concerns about the goals of a college degree.
High Student Demand
With more students enrolling in experiential-learning programs, the University of Georgia decided to expand its effort, said Linda P. Bachman, who this month became director of university experiential learning there. Now Georgia wants to widen the opportunity to every one of its 26,000 undergraduates, saying it will enhance students’ learning and position them for success after graduation.
As students and parents increasingly question the value of college degrees, said Ms. Bachman, it’s important that universities show students what they can do, not just tell them.
One selling point of an experiential education is that it teaches students job skills. But such opportunities can also introduce students to complex situations that leave them with something less tangible, like a shift in perspective.
It happened to Ms. Trammell. While helping homeless people during a service-learning trip, Ms. Trammell said she began to understand the difference between using “homeless” as a temporary descriptor and using the more permanent noun, “the homeless,” which can be dehumanizing.
“It changes your perception about how you address people,” said Ms. Trammell. “It’s made me a little more aware of the words that I use.”
Employers, too, support the increased emphasis on high-impact practices. In a study released in January by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 91 percent of employers surveyed said a job candidate’s ability to think critically and solve complex problems — skills often gained from experiential-learning projects — is more important than his or her undergraduate major. But in the same survey they said today’s students were not particularly prepared for the real world.
The concept of hands-on learning is not new. Institutions are now making experiential learning central to the educational process rather than an optional add-on, said Debra Humphreys, the association’s vice president for policy and public engagement.
The shift can be attributed to several factors, she said. The economic downturn has caused institutions to examine more closely how well they’re preparing students for the work force. Students and parents are concerned that graduates won’t make a successful transition from college into early adulthood.
Getting the Faculty on Board
The University of Washington in 2004 created its Center for Experiential Learning (now called the Center for Experiential Learning and Diversity). Thirty-two staff members serve the Seattle campus of nearly 30,000 undergraduates.
One important element of Washington’s program involves making sure professors are both excited about it and rewarded for supporting it — maybe with a positive mark on a tenure evaluation, said Janice DeCosmo, director of the center.
Experiential learning at Washington is not mandatory for every student. Despite that, Ms. DeCosmo said, she thinks her colleagues are reaching plenty of students. About 88 percent of Washington students participate in at least one high-impact practice in their four years.
“It’s not just checking a box,” she said. “We want students to be eagerly following their curiosity and really applying themselves to these types of experiences.”
Clark University does not make it a requirement either, said Nancy A. Budwig, associate provost and dean of research at the Massachusetts institution. Clark emphasizes preparation before and reflection after the experience. Such a focus, she said, helps ensure that students don’t think of the opportunities as simple assignments but as rich experiences woven into their education.
“It’s the chance for students to engage,” said Ms. Budwig, “the chance for students to be mentored and have powerful relationships with others.”
Although college officials involved in experiential learning tout its positive influence on work-force preparation, research suggests that linkage might not be so clear cut.
A study by Greg C. Wolniak, director of New York University’s Center for Research on Higher Education Outcomes, found little evidence linking high-impact practices to a student’s early-career outcomes. Mr. Wolniak and a colleague reported that institution type and major have a more sizable effect.
“It’s not that these experiences aren’t doing very good things for the students who engage in them,” he said. “It’s that those things aren’t translating to what we’re finding in the early stages of careers post college.” Job satisfaction and higher earnings, Mr. Wolniak said, don’t necessarily result from experiential learning.
Because of the foggy connection, he advised using caution when associating high-impact practices with career outcomes. The finding suggests that institutions might benefit from focusing on resources known to help students get jobs, like career services, Mr. Wolniak added.
Securing resources, Ms. Humphreys said, is one of the more difficult challenges of developing an experiential-learning program. Ms. DeCosmo acknowledged that finding financing to support the effort at Washington was a struggle.
At Georgia, Ms. Bachman said she and her colleagues are taking a strategic approach. The experiential-learning requirement comes at no added cost to either the institution or the students, but Ms. Bachman acknowledged there might be some fund raising and redirection of resources to cover unanticipated expenses.
Another obstacle to experiential learning is wariness by conservative educators who support the traditional way of doing things.
“There is skepticism about anything that de-centers the traditional power dynamic of the professor as the person who knows things,” said Ms. Humphreys.
Despite those challenges, students and administrators who spoke to The Chronicle for this article expressed support for experiential learning and a hope that more institutions will follow suit. Ms. Trammell, the Georgia student, thought it should be made mandatory elsewhere as well.
“People don’t always see the benefits that can come with experiential learning,” she said. “Sometimes you have to put things in people’s faces.”
