At last Monday’s Winter Conference guest speaker Dr. Randy Bass of Georgetown University facilitated discussion around high-impact experiential learning practice and the future of human learning in higher education. Over the next three days twenty NMC faculty and staff completed the Experiential Education Academy (EEA) certification program at the Hagerty Center. The EEA certification was led by several facilitators from the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE), a nonprofit that promotes experiential learning throughout North America.

All of this was done to further our efforts to integrate experiential learning across the entire college. In total, we heard from four NSEE members on various aspects of experiential learning (EL).  

Paul Gaszak, Dean of Academic Engagement and English Professor at Robert Morris University Illinois, helped us to explore EL theory and the fundamental principles and best practices of EL.

Dr. Maureen Drysdale, Associate Psychology Professor at St. Jerome’s University/University of Waterloo, introduced several reflection models and discussed the transformative power of reflective conversation. Dr. Drysdale also discussed outcomes assessment pertaining to EL.

Rena Varghese, Executive Director of the Nexus Center for Applied Learning & Career Development at SUNY’s Farmingdale State College discussed the wide ranging legal issues impacting EL programs.

Dr. Teri Williams, Director for Experiential Education & Learning at Nova Southeastern University, facilitated discussion around strategic planning and integrating and strengthening EL throughout the college.

Many of the sessions were hands-on, highly interactive and thought provoking. As the training concluded we were excited to discuss ways to apply the concepts we learned to our efforts to make EL commonplace at NMC.

Participants included Amy Burns-Bailey, April Kesler, Betsy Williams, Brandon Everest, Jim Bensley, Karl Schroeder, Kristina Jackson, Kristy McDonald, Kristen Salathiel, Lori Hodek, Lisa Blackford, Mella McCormick, Mike Skarupinski, Becca Richardson, Ryan Bernstein, Scott Powell, Sue Decamillis, Tammy Coleman, Terri Gustafson, and Taylor Nash.

EEA participants will now become EL ambassadors in their respective areas and beyond.  They will also work closely with the EL Advisory and Action Teams as we move ahead to develop support systems and further integrate EL in our curriculum and programs.