Meeting the Challenges and Opportunities of AI and DEIJ with Experiential and Place-Based Learning
Spring 2025: Thursdays in March and April, 2:00-3:15 PM in WED 140 (Wheelock/SED).
In this seminar we’ll explore how experiential learning and place-based learning interact with DEIJ and AI. We welcome participants with diverse experiences and viewpoints about EL, PBL, DEIJ, and AI, so we can put these areas in conversation in nuanced, intriguing, and fruitful ways. Please note that we will be meeting in person for this seminar.
Session 1--Introduction
“When we blur the boundaries of a classroom and expand the locations where learning occurs, as educators, we create opportunities for students to explore place as an important dimension in and of itself” — Elizabeth Langran and Janine DeWitt
“Experiential learning can deepen the value of being on a campus, interacting with other students, interfacing with the instructor, and actively participating in class. It provides numerous opportunities for students to confront their assumptions and biases, engage with new perspectives, and develop a broader cultural literacy” — Lauren Cardon and Anne-Marie Womack
- Langran and DeWitt, selections from Chapter 1 (1-5) (2020)
- Langran and DeWitt, “How and Why Place-Based Learning Works”
- Langran and DeWitt, Afterword
- Chan, CKY, “What IS and IS Not Experiential Learning” (Chapter 1) from Assessment for Experiential Learning (2022)
Session 2--Mapping, Stories, and Embodiment
“Critical Language Awareness engages minds, hearts, and bodies”– Shawna Shapiro
“By foregrounding the urban sensorium as a significant critical, affective pedagogic tool, we generate reflections about learners’ knowledge of the sensory learning, the city’s intersectional aspects, and more significantly, the student’s embodied and emplaced self in the built-environment.”–Gaana Jayagopalan and Sweta Mukherjee
Session 3--Community, Inclusivity, and AI
“Addressing complex social problems through action requires a capacity to work collaboratively across disciplines, sectors, cultures, and perspectives” — Paola Ardiles Gamboa, et al.
“The academic discourse surrounding the growth of AI-driven content in education highlights the importance of developing educational approaches that view AI as a supplementary tool rather than a replacement for human expertise” — Pamela Napier and Terri Wada
Please also join us for a Celebration of EL (Experiential Learning) in the Writing Program on Thursday, 4/24, from 5:30-7:00 PM, in the WP Lounge. Faculty and students will gather to eat sweet treats and discuss their sweet experiences with experiential learning this year. All seminar participants and other interested faculty and students are welcome!
