Tonight we watched another Elon Teaching and Learning Conference session entitled “From Creating to Sustaining Innovative, Experiential Curricula: Immersive Learning Practices Pre- and Post-Pandemic” presented by Phillip Motley, Associate Professor, Elon University and Danielle Lake, Director of Design Thinking and Associate Professor, Elon University. Lake began by discussing that immersive learning practices and project-based learning that “matters” tends to be transformative, valuable, and “get at those high-impact practices.” Lake also mentioned the challenges of immersive learning practices including timelines, lack of understanding, unintended outcomes, and public access & privacy considerations. I love how Lake spoke about having students seek projects that are valuable and authentic. Motley talked about a design thinking studio in social innovation with the goals of teaching design thinking skills and use them for social innovation in a fully immersive learning experience equivalent to four courses! They worked with partners like Graham Parks & Recreation, YMCA, City of Burlington, Active City Streets Festival… The strategies that Motley wanted students to learn about were:
- problem defining
- community engagement
- collaboration (team-based)
- project management incorporating agile project management.
The project was piloted two times, and Motley mentioned ultimately it failed because it was not sustainable. The time commitment for students was a challenge. Onboarding for students was also a barrier, and the depth of relationships and engagement with partners was still limited.
Lake talked about how they worked with Motley to dissect the course, interview alumni, and learn what worked and what didn’t with this experiment. Lake mentioned this study was recently published and that as a consequence an entry-level project-based learning experience called pathways to design thinking was established. This experience emphasized student leadership and near-peer mentoring. Lake recommended encouraging projects that are personalized. They did a personalized design project with iterative reflection two to three times a week to refine and foster intrinsic motivation. The weekly updates prompted students to think about how to improve their projects and address the challenges they faced. At the end of the semester, students shared “lightning reflections.” Lake talked about the personal action project materials they developed and the opportunities for project planning and reflections. Lake recommended “small is good, small is all.” and the process is what is critical. Lake also talked about the partnerships with the Mayco Bigelow Center and the African-American Cultural Arts and History Center (a previous talk). Lake shared that they now teach smaller courses focused on immersive experiences and rich relationships with partners and other students.
Motley talked about the short-term graduate level experience that they have developed for students to work with partners and develop their intercultural skills. The experience is three and a half weeks long. Teams have worked in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Colombia. Thirty students are divided into smaller cohorts/teams and develop a website with/for the partners. Motley mentioned that they begin preparing for the project in the fall semester with scheduled meetings. During the experience, there is a lot of reflection. At the end of the experience, students present to their classmates. This experience happens in the middle of this graduate program and has implications for how students approach their thesis projects. The presenters shared their website. Lake mentioned several courses are infusing these experiences to help students find out who they are and what they really want to pursue… and matters to them. In the process, they develop leadership skills and contacts. I would love to learn more and do something like this in the future! The BIT 295 course would be a good fit, I think. Though, for years I have been thinking about a metagenomics course with a study abroad component. While I would love to visit San Miguel with students, any global experience would be fantastic! I even mentioned this during my job talk for my current position. Maybe this dream will become a reality in the coming years!
