The Case for Bringing Experiential Learning into the Humanities

Bibliographic Data

ID9685211
AuthorsEdward J Balleisen (corresponding author), Rita Chin
Year2022
Volume151
Issue3
Pages138-152
Publication date2022-08-22
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDaedalus (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-5266 • E-ISSN: 1548-6192
PublisherMIT Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1162/daed_a_01934
OpenAlexW4292973905
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited1

Drawing on innovative programs at the University of Michigan and Duke University, this essay explores an important trend in humanistic education: the provision of opportunities for experiential learning, whether for undergraduates or graduate students. Avenues for applied humanistic research, such as research-based internships and courses structured around collaborative, client-inflected research projects, provide numerous benefits. In addition to cultivating teamwork, leadership, and communications skills, such experiences build intellectual confidence, expand horizons, and foster motivation to pursue additional research challenges. Although humanistic experiments with experiential learning now abound across higher education, pedagogical conservatism among faculty has slowed the pace of change, with pilots often occurring outside the frameworks of standard curricular structures. We call on departments in the humanities and interpretive social sciences to embrace the promise of engaged, public-facing scholarly endeavor, and to make collaborative research a core feature of curricular expectations for students at all levels

Engineering ethics · Experiential education · Experiential learning · Higher education · Humanism · Internship · Pace · Pedagogy · Political science · Sociology · Teamwork · Adult and Continuing Education Topics · Education and Critical Thinking Development · Engineering · Psychology · Reflective Practices in Education

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access