Experiential Education Workshops

Experiential education can be defined as a pedagogical approach that affords students the opportunity to apply theory to a concrete experience in a manner that advances the learning objectives of a course or program* and includes opportunities to reflect on those experiences, which may be classroom, community or workplace focused.  The courses are open to all course directors. Through engagement with workshop material participants will be able to develop a design for the delivery and evaluation of a course with an EE component. No experience of developing EE is required, but participants may prefer to choose to work with a course they are already experienced in teaching. Below is a description of each of the workshops we offer.

The Guide to Experiential Education is a valuable resource to both students and faculty wanting to learn more about EE, structured reflection, with interactive readiness checks to assess one’s communication skills, problem solving skills, teamwork, and civic engagement.

* A Case for Change: Experiential Education Integration at York University

We can also offer specially scheduled or adapted workshops for groups of 6 or more.

For further inquiries email Lisa Endersby lendersb@yorku.ca.

Integrating Experiential Education into Your Course

*This session was formerly titled Experiential Education Bootcamp

The EE workshops are designed to support faculty who wish to incorporate Experiential Education into their teaching, either in the classroom or in the community. This session combines the content of Introduction to Experiential Education and Experiential Education: Reflection and Assessment.

In the first half of the workshop, we will define EE and its three foci in the context of York, discuss the theory informing EE, and consider the critical role of structured reflection in experiential education. In the second half, we will brainstorm ideas for reflective activities and consider how to evaluate experiential learning. The workshop will be delivered via presentations, videos and hands-on activities designed to help participants develop an EE course or course activity that includes reflective learning and its assessment, for both in-class and community focused EE. All sessions run from 10AM to 3PM.  

Date: Thursday, April 4, 2019
REGISTER FOR THIS EE SESSION

Date: Thursday, August 8, 2019
REGISTER FOR THIS EE SESSION

Date: Thursday, December 12, 2019
REGISTER FOR THIS EE SESSION

Teaching & Learning in Experiential Education

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This is a one semester program offered to course directors as an opportunity to explore the pedagogy and planning involved in designing, facilitating, and assessing experiential education activities in their courses. Its main purpose is to provide guidance in the development of an experiential education course or an experiential activity as part of a course.

Faculty will meet 5 times in the term as a cohort,  with 3 core sessions focusing on key elements of experiential education at York:

  • Overview of Experiential Education @ York
  • Reflection as Pedagogy
  • Experiential Education Logistics and Planning

Each session will begin with a theme session outlining the topic before moving into an Action Learning Set and time for individual work and consultations. The Action Learning Sets are designed to leverage the expertise and experience of participants. This peer-based structure is designed to create a space for participants to share, collaborate, and support each other as they work toward personal goals related to integrating EE into their course and/or course activities. To fully benefit from this course, participants are expected  to attend all sessions and  work on the design of their course or course activity between sessions.

This course is aimed at all who teach at York: Contract Faculty, Contract Limited Appointments, Tenure-Stream, and Tenured Faculty are welcome (and encouraged!) to participate.

 By the end of the course participants will:

  • Have attended all 5 sessions
  • Have developed with some level of detail an experiential education course or course activity
  • Present their work in progress and receive feedback from peers and other experts

Session Dates (Winter 2019): 

  • Wednesday, January 9 (10am-12pm)
  • Wednesday, January 30 (10am-1pm)
  • Wednesday, March 6 (10am-1pm)
  • Wednesday, March 27 (10am-1pm)
  • Monday, April 17 (10am-11am)

Use the link below to apply to Teaching & Learning in Experiential Education

https://teachingcommonsforms.apps01.yorku.ca/forms/view.php?id=581703

Teaching with Experiential Education

This workshop is designed to support faculty who wish to learn about experiential education (EE) to incorporate it in their teaching. After defining EE and its three foci in the context of York, we will discuss the theory informing EE and consider the critical role of structured reflection in experiential education. The workshop will be delivered via presentations, videos and hands-on activities that will help participants start thinking about the many ways EE could help maximize student learning.

Date: October 9, 2018 from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm
Location: DB 1014
Register for this EE session

Preparing Students for Critical Reflection

As a distinctive characteristic of experiential education (EE), reflection is the mechanism leveraging seemingly ordinary experiences into teaching and learning moments. But incorporating structured reflection into a course and assessing the learning that occurs as a result can be a daunting task. This workshop is designed to support faculty in identifying strategies to support students in developing their ability to reflect as well as in designing structured reflective activities and a related assessment plan for an EE course. Participants will engage in hands-on activities designed to help them develop their own plan for reflective activities and their assessment, for both in-class and community focused EE.

Date: February 11, 2019 from 10am-1pm
Location: DB 1014
Register for this EE session