Publication Library

Designing Effective Experiential Curriculum: The Experiential Learning Map

Maya Saggar University of Calgary
John McArdle Salem State University
Alice de Koning University of Calgary
Anjali Choudhary University of Calgary

Designing experiential student exercises or course modules can be a daunting task for faculty members. Often, not knowing where to begin is a barrier that causes instructors to avoid developing meaningful, high-impact student exercises grounded in experience. Yet, we know that these can be incredibly powerful and transformative pedagogies. The Experiential Learning Map (ELM) is a curricular planning tool that instructors, learning consultants, or students can use to storyboard and develop an experiential lesson. Modelled after best practices in business model ideation, and informed by research about experiential learning, the ELM provides instructors with an easy-to-use curriculum planning tool. The ELM is designed to be flexible. Instructors can scale the pedagogy from a single-class interaction to a multi-session pedagogical arc. The ELM's value is that it provides instructors with a simple, iterative planning tool that can be used to scope and scale a learning experience.

Disrupting the Traditional Learning Paradigm: Place-Based Learning as Transformational Space

Alice de Koning University of Calgary
John McArdle Salem State University
Anjali Choudhary University of Calgary
Maya Saggar University of Calgary

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Place-based learning may be one of the disruptive innovations called for by Randy Bass in his keynote address, Architecture of the Unexpected: Beyond the Learning Paradigm. Place-based learning goes beyond the learning paradigm by challenging students to partner with community members in a specific place, to learn through interacting with the people and spaces, and to think like agents of change. Working as co-designers, faculty, students, and community stakeholders become partners to promote learning and transformation of individuals and places. Using place-based learning in the university setting facilitates the application of global, generalizable knowledge to the specifics of local people and places, creating hope for solutions that address the locali realities of the world’s wicked challenges.