The Hybrid Future of Experiential Learning
Channel: eCampusOntario
Date: 2021-12-16

The Hybrid Future of Experiential Learning / L’avenir hybride de l’apprentissage par l’expérience

Presented by:

Al Hearn
Educational Developer for Experiential Learning, University of Toronto

Corinne Beauquis
Associate Professor, University of Toronto

At the beginning of the pandemic, many postsecondary education faculty, staff and administrators had reservations as to whether experiential learning (EL) could take place effectively in an online environment (Lowes, V., Goldman, A., & McMahon, C., 2020). Community partners expressed their hesitations due to loss of resources and technology deficits, faculty members and students were concerned about their ability to adjust to new learning platforms and make time for EL, given the extra workload created by the online shift. All questioned accessibility, inclusion, and security in the online environment.

Many faculty members and community partners opted to pause EL until the end of the pandemic. However, a number of faculty members and community partners decided to continue with EL courses and partnerships remotely. Those teaching EL courses when the pandemic hit found innovative strategies to assist their students with the completion of their projects online. In the following term, some faculty members taught newly designed EL courses remotely. Surprisingly, others developed new EL courses in spite of the remote environment. Through hard work, experimentation, staff and administrative support, and the improvement of online technology, many of these remote EL courses and partnerships were delivered with great success. 

Now, we must decide what delivery format will be chosen for EL courses when we return to the classroom. Remote learning is not supported by all stakeholders, but many of them anticipate a return to new hybrid forms of EL delivery, mixing in-person and remote learning and placements (Contact North, 2020a, 2020b). These hybrid placements will be particularly relevant to EL partnerships involving organizations outside the post-secondary institutions’ geographic locations.

In this workshop, we will discuss the different articulations of hybrid EL courses including:

- the components of remote learning and placements which we may want to keep,
- the balance between these in-person and remote components,
- the allocation of time and the distribution of resources, and
- the set of standards and best practices to be developed in order to make hybrid courses safe, accessible, inclusive and flexible.
 
We will draw upon aspects of successful remote courses and data from surveys that questioned students about their experiences with EL in the remote environment.