The Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Carl Wright and members of the Higher Learning Commission will host the campus discussions. File photo.
A series of discussions on experiential education at Colorado State University-Pueblo could change the way students are taught to include more hands-on or “experiential” learning.
The Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Carl Wright and members of the Higher Learning Commission will host the campus discussions.
A part of the HLC Quality Initiative, these campus discussions will be about experiential education, and how this idea will become a part of the academia at CSU-Pueblo.
Three separate discussions have been announced; the first meeting was held on Oct. 8, the second discussion was held on Oct. 9 and the last discussion will be held on Nov. 18.
HLC is an independent corporation and one of two commission members of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, which was founded in 1895 as one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.
Without the HLC, CSU-Pueblo would not be allowed to offer federal aid for students.
The quality initiative is part of the accreditation process, and is being discussed during the three forums.
The quality initiative being proposed and discussed is experiential education, a philosophy that informs many procedures in which instructors purposefully engage with students in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills and clarify values.
Experiential education is “taking the learning outside of the classroom and giving students an opportunity to apply that learning in experiences,” said Erin Frew, assistant provost for assessment and student learning.
Some academic programs on campus already practice a form of experiential education.
According to Frew, continuing education program and nursing program at CSU-Pueblo are two recognizable academic programs that have implemented a form of experiential education into their programs.
For instance, in the nursing program, students must complete a clinical, where they observe a patient, and at the same time the nursing students are gaining real life experience within their field.
Also, in the continuing education program, students experience experiential education by being a student teacher, which gives the continuing education students real life experience in their field of study.
These ideas of experiential education will “deepen the learning that you’re getting now,” said Frew, when asked how this idea would benefit students who have not had previous experiential education.
The campus discussion will determine the definition and form of experiential education on the CSU-Pueblo campus.
All faculty members, staff members and students can take part in the remaining discussion.