If You Build Experiential Learning, Will They Come?

Recently, the Main Campus Executive Faculty approved a framework to mount experimental courses that would serve all students. I wrote about energy among students, parents, and alumni urging Georgetown to offer such courses in the past (see: Hacking Georgetown-Provided Skills).

Deans of our various schools have returned from visits to potential employers of our graduates with requests for new courses. From the Law School, the visit conveyed the importance of new lawyers needing more financial literacy. From other visits, knowledge of web analytics and basic webpage construction was mentioned. Others brought home the message that understanding the processes of startup organizations, the phases of organizational development, and the group dynamics of growing an organization was vital. Still others mentioned a set of rhetorical skills — the pitch, the autobiographical sketch, the negotiation, the debate — that all work organizations exhibit. There were other mentions that concerned alternative forms of writing in a work organization (e.g., the briefing of the boss, a memorandum for a work group, or a proposal for an initiative).

As we were collecting this input over the past months, I ran ideas by student advisory groups. They were supportive. Their support prompted us to move forward.

Following work with faculty and students in the Red House incubator on campus led by Vice Provost Randy Bass, the Designing the Future(s) initiative crafted a proposal for a set of courses that were not currently part of degree curricula. The faculty agree that we should experiment with such courses.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation sent out a late announcement of a course in which students could enroll during this term. The course is built around a real world problem. Students working in teams will identify effective ways to expand an existing program in the Philippines designed to provide healthy meals to children in need. The students are tasked with addressing questions of how to make the program scalable and how to make it sustainable.

To do this, they will study the latest models, technologies, and methods of collaboration across the traditional sectors of government, academia, and business. Students will meet with the client, rapidly prototype different solutions, conduct quick data analysis, iterate to identify the best ways forward, and present the recommendations to the client. In short, the students have an opportunity to contribute to an organization’s success and improve the impact of the organization.

With this as a description, the Beeck Center announced a meeting for interested students. Scores of students went to the meeting, many more than could be accepted into the course. The students were told that the course would offer them absolutely no academic credit that would count toward their degree. Even without academic credit, the Center had more applicants for the course than they could accommodate.

The course is off and running with 23 active students working the problem.

While we had faith that such courses would be attractive, until this experience, we couldn’t present evidence that students would choose to pursue them. This one experimental course has emboldened us to move ahead.

Georgetown built an experiential learning opportunity for our students, and they jumped at the chance to be part of it.