Here instructors will find resources to help inspire ideas, supplement lessons and encourage student engagement while infusing the SDGs into experiential learning.
New Resource!
Interdisciplinary Activities for Teaching Sustainability
By ,
This Interdisciplinary Activities for Teaching Sustainability Guide(pdf) outlines six activities/assignments that instructors can facilitate for learners in higher education that connect to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The focus is on learner-centered and often experiential, place-based activities where students can intentionally engage with sustainable practices, climate action, clean energy, connecting with life on land and water, health and well-being, reducing inequalities, and more. These can be applied in a broad range of courses and displaces.
The layout for each activity includes:
- Overview of the activity and its relevance
- Clear time breakdown and required materials
- List of relevant SDGs to connect to this activity
- Assessment, Location, and Accessibility
- A step-by-step process for the activity
- How to adapt for your discipline/course, with examples
- KPU mentors to contact
- Reflection questions to ask students
- A Case Study with an Interdisciplinary Study Abroad Course: The Value of Experiential Learning describes how a 10-day study abroad course in Tanzania, Africa, enhanced student understanding and retention of fundamental concepts in evolution, ecology, and ethology. The authors used pre- and post-tests to measure student learning outcomes and found that experiential learning had a particular value for non-majors.
- Every Child Learns: UNICEF Education Strategy 2019-2030 aims to provide practical support for teachers in shifting towards more learner-centred approaches for effective integration of life skills, Birzeit University in Palestine in partnership with MOEHE and UNICEF, initiated the development of a national ‘Experiential Learning Objects Bank’ (xLOB). Learning objects are a set of innovative pedagogical activities and resources used to enhance teaching methods within classrooms and to improve students’ life skills and learning outcomes. Each learning object is designed to stimulate active learning and develop core life skills such as critical thinking, creativity and problem solving.
- Experiential Learning Teaching Methods explains how case studies can be used as an experiential learning teaching method. It provides examples of how working with external organizations to identify actual problems or opportunities can be an opportunity for students to contribute to real-life problem solving and receive feedback from those organizations.
- Guidelines for Assessment of Experiential Learning provides an introduction to experiential learning and summarizes several strategies for assessing experiential learning, such as reflective journals, portfolios, essays, reports, presentations, self-awareness tools, and self-evaluation. The guide also offers case studies with potential in-class applications.
- provides an overview of case-based teaching strategies and how they can be used to create a shared learning experience for students. The website also provides links to resources and tools for designing and implementing case-based learning activities.
- is a community-campus partnership at that gets undergraduate students who are studying out into the community to learn firsthand the strengths, challenges, and opportunities for making communities healthy places.
- showcases some of the best examples of experiential learning in the workplace and discusses why these programs are so beneficial. The article includes examples from various industries and sectors, such as health care, hospitality, technology, and education.
- is an international, peer-reviewed journal which publishes refereed articles on experiential education in diverse contexts. The JEE provides a forum for the empirical and theoretical study of issues concerning experiential learning, program management and policies, educational, developmental, and health outcomes, teaching and facilitation, and research methodology.
- is to serve as the premier peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal to advance theory and practice related to all forms of outreach and engagement between higher education institutions and communities. This includes highlighting innovative endeavors; critically examining emerging issues, trends, challenges, and opportunities; and reporting on studies of impact in the areas of public service, outreach, engagement, extension, engaged research, community-based research, community-based participatory research, action research, public scholarship, service-learning, and community service
- is an online, international, peer-reviewed journal for the dissemination of original research regarding effective institutional-community partnerships. The primary emphasis is to provide an outlet for sharing the methodologies and pedagogical approaches that lead to effective community-identified outcomes.
- , and (2023), "Experiential Learning About Sustainable Development and The SDGs: Features, Challenges, and Experiences of A Modular Course in Business Education", , and (Ed.) Higher Education for the Sustainable Development Goals: Bridging the Global North and South, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 165-180.
- is an open-access journal focusing on research, theory, pedagogy, and other matters related to academic service-learning, campus-community partnerships, and engaged/public scholarship in higher education. MJCSL is published by the University of Michigan's Edward Ginsberg Center, with support from Michigan Publishing.
- h is refereed, multidisciplinary, online undergraduate journal that will advance knowledge in new scholarly arenas by presenting intellectual and reflective work by undergraduates.
- is a nonprofit professional membership association dedicated to experiential education and the students, educators, and practitioners who utilize its philosophy. AEE is committed to supporting professional development, theoretical advancement, and the evaluation of experiential education worldwide.
- states that "experiential education promotes deeper learning and understanding, increased engagement and motivation, and the development of practical skills that can be applied in various contexts. Experiential learners develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, independence, and self-reliance."
- offers the following examples of the types of experiential learning: Capstone projects, Case studies, Interactive simulations, On-campus labs, Performance-based learning and Work-integrated learning (WIL).
- provides information, examples and templates for designing, delivering, facilitating, and evaluating experiential learning (EL) in postsecondary education and was developed through a collaborative initiative between Niagara College, Georgian College and Brock University.
- is a Canadian non-profit organization that states "We explore the simplicity and complexity as we recognize ourselves as nature, and how that understanding is generatively entangled with others and the more than human world, whether through a personal immersion and learning how to self-guide, training to become a certified forest therapy guide, or ecotherapy certification for clinical therapists, or our corporate and professional leadership development programs".
- where experiential education is a planned pedagogy centering on an authentic experience to strengthen students’ knowledge, skills, and abilities, paired with student reflection.
- has an Experiential Learning Hub (EL Hub) that supports efficient cross-institutional planning and delivery of experiential learning, providing advising for program development, collaboration, and sharing of resources through a central contact. Instructors can explore the Experiential Learning Toolkit for faculty.
- (SEE) is a nonprofit membership association of educators, businesses, and community leaders and is the premier professional association for experiential educators across the globe. SEE also serves as a national resource center for the development and improvement of experiential education programs nationwide. The society acts as the standard-bearer for the field, having created the Eight Principles of Good Practice for All experiential Learning Activities.
- Experiential learning is a core part of the University of Guelph. Students benefit from engaging directly in workplaces and communities where they can apply their learning in real contexts. Course-based and co-curricular opportunities are designed to develop transferable skills, expand awareness of work and community issues, and promote collaboration between peers, faculty, and external partners.
- states that experiential learning informs the design and delivery of a breadth of learning opportunities for students. The Experiential Learning Hub is a resource to support students, faculty, staff, and partners, as they undertake impactful, innovative teaching and learning experiences. The EL Hub provides descriptions of experiential learning opportunities at the University and learning modules to support knowledge and understanding of experiential learning.
- has a CEE unit that is made up of researchers, academics, dedicated staff and students committed to their mission to equip and empower learners for the future of work and lifelong learning.
- has many different types of Experiential Learning opportunities within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. UWindsor's experiential learning philosophy is underpinned by Kolb's Learning Theory that shares how a reoccurring learning cycle allows a variety of students to access deep learning opportunities. To support this view, UWindsor has adopted a Career Development Model, A Curricular UWindsor Typology of Experiential Learning, A Co-Curricular UWindsor Typology of Experiential Learning, and a strategy to track and identify experiential learning opportunities within and beyond the curriculum
- states that experiential learning is both a process and a journey. Experiential education is the theory, while experiential learning refers to the practice. Experiential learning opportunities allow us to engage in experiential education. The university has a three-pronged approach: Academic learning - engaging students in relevant learning connected to their academic program; Authentic experience - providing opportunities for students to practice their learning in meaningful ways; Reflective practice - building knowledge by connecting theory and practice
- 91ÑÇÉ«'s Experiential Education (EE) is a pedagogical approach where theories are applied to concrete experiences in the advancement of course or program learning outcomes. These experiences can take place within the classroom, the community, or the workplace. At the core of EE is critical reflection, where students make meaningful connections between the experience and the course content. We offer a wide array of support for EE, including: ; Courses and workshops (both online and in-person, when permitted); Online modules; and Individual consultations
- Faculty of Science Experiential Education
- Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies Experiential Education
- Faculty of Health Experiential Education
- Glendon Experiential Education
- Experiential Education
- Experiential Education
- and Experiential Education
- School of Global Health Experiential Education