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Experiential Learning Summit

The 2019 Summit included presentations from nationally-recognized specialists in experiential education, as well as workshop sessions dealing with key challenges and opportunities.

Event Dates
Wednesday, November 20th
8:30 am - 2:00 pm
Thursday, November 21st
8:30 am- 3:00 pm

Hosted by the BYU Office of Experiential Learning.

Videos

If you didn't have the chance to attend the 2019 Experiential Learning Summit or want a refresher on what you learned, watch some of the keynote videos or read their transcriptions here.

Inspired Experiential Learning at BYU

Dr. Jennifer Neilson's remarks at the 2019 Experiential Learning Summit.

Experiential Learning Interview with President Worthen

President Kevin J. Worthen's keynote address and interview with Melinda Semandeni at the 2019 Experiential Learning Summit hosted by the office of Experiential Learning.

Experiential Learning Cycle: Definition, Examples, and Assessment

Dr. Jay Robert's keynote and workshop at the 2019 Experiential Learning Summit

Why Intention, Integration, and Reflection are Critical to Learning through Experience

Dr. Todd Peterson's speech at the 2019 Experiential Learning Summit

Workshop Descriptions

Designing Meaningful Study Abroad and Travel Based Experiences

Dr. Frank Christianson (BYU)
Dr. Spencer Magleby (BYU)

For faculty hoping to develop a new study abroad or revise and improve an established program. Place-based programs afford the opportunity to expand or reimagine academic outcomes while helping students develop habits of lifelong learning. This workshop will address the challenges of maximizing site learning as a curricular experience with meaningful framing and reflective practices. It will also explore how experiential learning outcomes can be assessed.
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Scaling Up Field Work and Mentored Research

Dr. Peter Felten (Elon University)
Dr. Catherine Bovill (University of Edinburgh)

These types of learning environments can be both curricular and non-curricular. They are most often intensive, high touch, and closely monitored, making them time and resource heavy. Adding additional assignments to programs that are already demanding of faculty time and resources can present major challenges. This workshop will address ways to enhance and customize intention and reflection at the level that best fits your circumstances.
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Helping Interns Develop Professional Competencies

Dr. Todd Petersen (SUU)
Dr. John Bennion (BYU)
Dr. Angela Pool-Funai (SUU)

Internships most often mean immersion in an experience where faculty supervision is either coordinated with or replaced by employer supervision. These situations often allow students’ opportunity to experience higher levels of independence and initiative. This workshop will help faculty design intention and reflection strategies to help students develop and articulate professional competencies as they take control of their own experiences and focus on their professional future.
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Enhancing Classroom Experiences with Interactive Project-Based Learning

Dr. Jay Roberts (Earlham College)
Dr. Richard E. West (BYU)

Classrooms are great place for simulations, experiments, and short-term projects that can still address real world problems. This environment can optimize the value of seeing multiple avenues to a diverse set of outcomes without a lot of risk and in a short amount of time. However, helping students understand the application of their learning to other contexts can be a challenge. In this workshop participants will acquire tools to help students understand and articulate how these experiences apply to situations outside the classroom.
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Creating and Maintaining Community-Based Partnerships

Scott R. Sanders (BYU)

Working with community partners presents opportunities for students to interact directly with outside stake holders on real-world problems and consequences, but with close supervision by a faculty member. Aligning expectations between faculty, students, and community partners is critical for these programs to be successful. This workshop will focus on developing these partnerships, and on implementing intention and reflection to help students more confidently translate their academic learning to issues effecting their communities.
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Keynotes

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Dr. Jennifer Nielson

Associate Dean for the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, BYU


Dr. Jennifer Nielson is actively engaged in the international chemistry education community. From 2010-2015 she spent her summers in Uganda, Africa, where she and her team designed and facilitated Learning Chemistry Through Experimentation workshops. Her work in Uganda, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports, helped design and implement a new chemistry curriculum for the country in 2017. Dr. Nielson is chair of the ACS task force on International Chemistry Education, the co-chair of the Society’s Committee on Education, Councilor for the American Chemical Society representing the Central Utah Section, and a member of Chemists Without Borders.
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Dr. Jay Roberts

Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs; Associate Professor of Education, Earlham College


Dr. Robert’s research and scholarship focus on engaged pedagogy, experiential learning, and place-based learning. He is the author of two books: Experiential Education in the College Context: What it is, how it works, and why it matters and Beyond Learning by Doing: Theoretical currents in experiential education.

For the Summit he will also be facilitating a workshop on Wednesday as well as the workshops on Thursday.
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Kevin J. Worthen

President of BYU


Kevin J Worthen is BYU’s 13th president. He was inaugurated on September 9, 2014. As president he has shown his commitment to and confidence in the mission and aims of BYU. he sees the university as not only a reputable and growing institution of secular learning but also a laboratory for spiritually perfecting experiences. In August of 2016, President Worthen introduced Inspiring Learning, a new and refined focus on enhancing student learning through experience. This initiative provides funds directly to students to participate in meaningful experiential learning opportunities. He also established an Office of Experiential Learning to increase the access to quality experiences for students, and to facilitate experiential learning best practices at BYU.
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Melinda Semandeni

Assistant Dean in College of Fine Arts and Communications, BYU


Interview Facilitator

Melinda Semandeni's communications career includes 18 years of experience as a journalist, analyst, advocate and director of media relations in Washington DC., Virginia, and Utah. Melinda holds a BA in journalism, a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) from BYU and a certificate in Public Relations from the University of Virginia. Currently she serves as the College’s Alumni Director, liaison for donor relations with Philanthropies, BYU Arts MarComm Committee and on the CASE Utah Advisory Board.
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Dr. Todd Petersen

Co-Founder, EDGE experiential learning program, Southern Utah University


Todd is the Co-Founder and former Executive Director of the EDGE experiential learning program and Director of Project Based Learning at SUU. He has also organized and facilitated multiple leadership workshops for the National Society for Experiential Education.

He will also be co-facilitating the "Helping Interns Develop Professional Competencies" workshop on Thursday.
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Workshop Facilitators

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Dr. John Bennion

Associate Professor, English, Brigham Young University


Dr. Bennion has twenty-five years of experience teaching effective reflection through writing to promote student growth.
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Dr. Catherine Bovill

Senior Lecturer in Student Engagement, University of Edinburgh


Dr. Bovill is a leading higher education scholar from the United Kingdom is spending this year on a Fulbright scholarship at Elon University on research into engaged and experiential learning.
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Dr. Frank Christianson

Associate Dean in Humanities, Brigham Young University


Dr. Frank Christianson is a professor of English and an associate dean in the College of Humanities. For the past five years he has served on the International Study Programs oversight committee where helped develop guidelines for proposal submission and program assessment. He is also a member of the Study Abroad for GE executive committee. He has directed multiple study abroad programs to the United Kingdom.
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Dr. Peter Felten

Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning, Executive Director of the Center for Engaged Learning, and Professor of History; Elon University


As a scholar, Dr. Felten is particularly interested in learning and teaching, individual and institutional change, and student experiences and agency in higher education. He is co-editor of the International Journal for Academic Development and a fellow of the Gardner Institute.
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Dr. Angela E. Pool-Funai

MPA Director; Assistant Professor, Southern Utah University


Dr. Angela Pool-Funai’s work in experiential learning focuses on weaving critical thinking and experiential learning, and on assessing reflective thought in action. She is a board member of the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics & Public Service, was a columnist for the American Society for Public Administration and was former editor of the Critical Issues in Justice and Politics journal.
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Dr. Spencer Magleby

Associate Dean, Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; University Honors Program Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University


Dr. Magleby has chaired the Academic Oversight Committee for study abroad programs and directed a variety of programs. In his new positions he has advocated for interdisciplinary, experiential learning approaches to teaching both on campus and abroad.
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Dr. Richard E. West

Associate Professor, Instructional Psychology and Technology, Brigham Young University


Dr. West’s research focuses on how to create learning environments that prepare students for the 21st century. He is a co-founder of the Creativity, Innovation, and Design group at BYU, and helped create the interdisciplinary design thinking minor. He is also a co-Principal Investigator on the STEMFI grant, funded by the National Science Foundation, which provides training and support for student-centered teaching for STEM faculty.
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Scott R. Sanders

Associate Professor of Sociology, Brigham Young University


Scott is the Director of the Project Evaluation and Assessment Team (PEAT). PEAT trains students to work with non-profit organizations and helps them evaluate development programs throughout the world. He has worked with government, private, and non-profit agencies on over 20 countries. He is also the co-founder of the BYU Community Studies Lab, and a former Executive Director and Treasurer of the Rural Sociological Society.
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Partners

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This summit introduced the experiential learning cycle and principles, built a community of experiential learning educators, established an annual experiential learning tradition of training and sharing best practices, and provided a few practical solutions ​and collaboration opportunities to current experiential learning problems.