Giving Compass' Take:

• Two educators at Northeastern University share how their experiential learning classes are helping students solve problems and creating future social change agents. 

• Can other higher education institutions adopt experiential learning principles? What are the necessary paths and resources needed to do so?

• Read more about the importance of developing a network of experiential learning. 

For more than 120 years, Boston-based Northeastern University has been known for experiential education. A third of the 26,000 enrollments are graduate students served by a network of campuses around the county and a thriving online program. Building on this tradition and footprint, the Northeastern Graduate School of Education has been rethinking educator preparation.

Professor Kelly Conn leads professional development pathways including a cool program called Network for Experiential Teaching and Learning (NExT), a global platform of educators connecting practice to more innovative, workplace-based learning.

NExT connects educators to the benefits of experiential education strategies such as project-based learning. “PBL is documented as successful pedagogy, it improves achievement. All learners become more engaged and take more control of their own learning, become more involved in the construction of their own knowledge,” said Conn.

Professor Cherese Childers-McKee leads the new Doctor of Education curriculum, which results in a Dissertation in Practice. It’s for practitioners that want to tackle a real problem. It has a social justice component that encourages budding leaders to become change agents.

In the old model, candidates would take courses for a year or two and then work with an advisor on a thesis topic. With the Dissertation in Practice, candidates immediately begin action research. They are guided through learning content with their own dissertation in mind. Students connect with a thesis advisory in their second quarter. The focus is on important and relevant problems of practice.

The three pathways are experiential, allowing learners to dive into their specific field and problems of practice. They all focus on improving the human condition by deconstructing systemic injustice at all organizational levels.

Read the full article about experiential education at Getting Smart