Experiential Learning

Beginning with students entering Drake in the fall of 2012, all Drake students will participate in a significant experiential learning experience. A key element of all experiential learning experiences that meet this requirement will be structured reflection on the experience, and in order for an experience to satisfy this requirement it will meet the following three learning outcomes:

Students will be able to:

1. Reflect on the impact that engagement outside the classroom has on their understanding of liberal education, or on an academic discipline, or on important societal or personal values.
2. Integrate academic knowledge with their experiential learning.
3. Demonstrate an ability to apply knowledge to new situations.

In addition to those core outcomes, experiential learning provides a powerful set of tools for achieving the Drake Mission and, depending on the nature of the individual experience, also will help students to achieve one or more of these learning outcomes drawn from the mission explication: Drake students will:

1. Take responsibility for their own learning.
2. Apply knowledge and skills to understand new situations.
3. Demonstrate the capacity to raise questions about the relationship of their profession to ethical and civic issues.
4. Synthesize and focus the ideas and efforts of a group in the solution of problems.
5. Pursue new knowledge with intellectual curiosity, rigor, honesty, and accountability.
6. Demonstrate an understanding of the historical and cultural foundations of a society other than their own.
7. Assume responsibility for the common good of local, national, and global communities.
8. Serve as active stewards of both the natural environment and the cultural heritage of society.

Experiences that have been approved by the University Curriculum Committee as fulfilling this requirement:

ART197: Art History Capstone
ART197: Studio Arts Capstone
BUS191: Internship in Business
EDUC 103 Foundations in Educatio
ENG130: Gothic Literature in England
FYS 038 Portrayal of Mental Illness
INTD 075 Community Dialogue and Development
INTD 076 Explorations of Urban Poverty
JMC 145 Advertising Campaign Strategy
JMC 146 PR Campaign Strategy
JMC 171 News Magazing Production
JMC 193 Broadcast News Capstone
REL155: Liberation & Feminist Theologies