Students, faculty, and staff attending the Office of Undergraduate Affairs Experiential Learning Expo May 2, 2025.

Student Life

More Than 100 Student Projects Take the Stage at Fall 2025 Experiential Learning Expo Thursday

Featuring work produced by the Cross-College Challenge, the Learning Assistant Program, and BU Spark!

Wonder what students across campus have been up to this semester? You’ll have a chance to find out during Thursday’s Fall 2025 Experiential Learning Expo at the Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences. During the biannual event, students in the Cross-College Challenge, Duan Family Spark! Initiative, and  Learning Assistant Program will showcase the innovative projects they’ve been working on throughout the fall. 

“This event is more than just a display—it’s a celebration of student achievements and interdisciplinary collaboration,” says Amie Grills, Boston University associate provost for undergraduate affairs. “Through these programs, students engage in hands-on projects with community partners that are intentionally designed to promote deep learning, social engagement, and the real-world application of knowledge.” 

Hosted by BU’s Office of Undergraduate Affairs, the expo, featuring more than 100 student projects, is a celebration of interdisciplinary collaboration, real-world impact, and the power of experiential learning. 

“The Expo provides a unique platform for faculty, staff, students, and community members to witness the remarkable problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaborative capabilities of our undergraduate students,” Grills says, noting that “attendees will have an opportunity to engage in conversations about the real-world challenges and innovative cross-disciplinary solutions students have addressed.”  

Find out more about each program below. 

Cross-College Challenge (XCC)

The Cross-College Challenge is the BU Hub’s signature program for juniors and seniors of all majors. It’s designed to include involvement from both students and faculty, and teams explore real-world problems in a range of areas.  

Each section is co-taught by two faculty members from different disciplines. Students benefit by collaborating with others beyond their school, college, and major on a project that adds value to a community partner or stakeholder, says Phillip Jacob, XCC manager. 

“Many recent alumni have cited their XCC articles, podcasts, and other deliverables in job interviews and portfolios as demonstrations of real-world experience,” Jacob says. 

Among the Cross-College Challenge classes presenting at Thursday’s event are Exploring Walkability in Boston, taught by Tom Anastasi (Questrom’01), a Questrom School of Business adjunct assistant professor of management and organizations, and Stacey Gelsheimer, a College of Arts & Sciences senior lecturer in economics. Students in the class worked with community partner WalkMassachusetts, a nonprofit dedicated to making walking safer and easier throughout the commonwealth. Students identified a social justice problem related to walkability and created short videos providing solutions. Another XCC course, Exploring World Cultures through Puppetry Arts, taught by Felice Amato, a College of Fine Arts assistant professor of art, art education, looks at world cultures and current events through puppetry. 

Spark! Demo Day

Spark! is Boston University’s technology hub and experiential learning lab for student-led computational and data-driven projects. During the Expo, Spark! will host its own showcase, called Demo Day, in partnership with the Cross-College Challenge, where students present their work. Attendees will be able to visit project demo stations and vote on their favorite projects. 

Since 2017, Spark!’s practicum courses, which include data science, machine learning, software engineering, UX design, data visualization, and justice media, have functioned like micro-internships, pairing students with external partners on semester-long projects, says Ziba Cranmer, BU Spark! director.

“The opportunity to widen their aperture or be exposed to other possibilities or maybe even dabble in issue areas that they wouldn’t have had an opportunity to get experience in other ways can really lead people to different career paths,” Cranmer says of the program’s lasting impact. 

This year’s event also marks the launch of Spark!’s Alumni Advisory Council, which brings recent grads back to campus to help students navigate a rapidly changing tech landscape shaped by AI. 

“What Demo Day will demonstrate is that we’ve figured out a way to reach and serve hundreds of students in experiential learning,” Cranmer says. 

Learning Assistant Program

Learning assistants (LAs) are undergrads who have finished a course and return to take on an instructional role. They complete prep sessions with faculty and are trained by Wheelock College of Education & Human Development faculty to facilitate class discussions with students. The LAs assist the course staff, but do not replace graduate student teaching fellows. 

“The LAs have such a powerful perspective that no one else has. They were previously students in the course, and now, as an LA, they are on the other side of the classroom,” says Kathryn Spilios, a CAS master lecturer in biology and Learning Assistant Program director. “Their ability to bridge the gap between students and faculty is amazing.” 

According to Spilios, the LA Program transforms courses by embedding small group discussions and active learning into classes, leveraging peer-led engagement and faculty development. It employs motivated students to return to the classroom to assist with teaching other undergraduates.

“The LA Program is a win-win-win scenario—faculty or instructors, undergraduates, and the LAs themselves all benefit from the program,” she says. “By understanding how learning works, and why certain methods of teaching are more effective than others, LAs can apply their new skills to their own courses and future careers.” 

At the expo, this semester’s 93 new learning assistants will present their final projects on redesigning one small aspect of the course they help teach, combining the pedagogical theory they learned throughout the semester with their in-class, experiential practice of teaching.