Partnerships in Experiential Learning: FAQ

Partnerships take various forms, including:

• Service learning: Participation in ongoing service provision in order to address genuine community needs. Read more about service learning.
  
• Project-based learning: Designing, developing, and constructing hands-on solutions to a problem towards a specific goal defined by the partner or client. Read more about project-based learning.
• Practicum: Supervised practical application of skills in a field setting. Please note that a practicum generally requires a formal agreement between the Boston University department/school and the field host/organization; faculty should contact their school administration to understand the formal requirements for these agreements.
• Internships with coursework components: Occupying a role in an organization or agency for a short-term basis, paired with ongoing coursework.

When evaluating if a partnership is appropriate for your course, consider the following key aspects:

• Alignment with learning outcomes: How will the work done by students support the course learning objectives for the course? Do the partners’ expectations and timelines align with your own?
• Assessment methods: How will you scaffold and asses student work? Is the project the end-goal of the course, or is it a means to develop a set of skills? Are you using a traditional grading system such as midterm or final exams? If so, you may need to adapt your assessment approach to accommodate the partnership project.
• Time management: How will you manage the additional tasks associated with a partnership, including communication, coordination, mentorship and teaching students for multiple partners on constrained timelines?
• Resource requirements: Do you need any resources or funding beyond what is available in a traditional classroom such as trip expenses, or paper survey mailing, software licensing, etc.? Explore potential budget sources like the Hub Course Enhancement Fund, BU Arts Initiative faculty support, and the Virginia Sapiro Academic Enhancement Fund.
• Buy-in from students: Is this the kind of experience that students would be willing and eager to invest time in? Experiential learning projects require a high level of engagement and buy-in from students. If students are not invested in the project, they may not put in the necessary effort. That will affect the quality.
• Student workload: Experiential learning projects should require the same amount of work as similar credit-level courses. Carefully consider the workload and provide adequate support and resources to help students manage their time effectively.

When looking for the right partner for EL in your class, there are a few places to consider starting:

• Centers that are associated with the university, such as: Community Service Center Opportunities for Faculty and Staff, Center for Career Development, School of Public Health Activist Lab, or EUSA (Academic Internships Experts).
• Networking and referrals: Reach out to friends and colleagues who are connected with organizations and agencies that would be logical partners. Many departments already have connections.
• Direct outreach: Many organizations have more work than they are able to accomplish. Partnerships can provide an opportunity for them to get more done. Explain the course, the types of projects you are interested in discussing and any constraints upon the work, such as team size, timeline, etc.

Aspects to consider when planning an EL partnership:

• Collaborative planning: Gazley, et.al. (2013) find that experiential learning partnerships are most likely to succeed when they are planned collaboratively. These partnerships should be mutually beneficial, align with each party’s mission, goals, and capabilities, and involve mutual respect for each party’s expertise.
• Aligning goals and timelines: Clarify with the partner what their goals are and whether or not you and your students will be able to accomplish it on their timeline, which may diverge from the academic semester timeline. 
• Monitoring progress and handling unmet goals: Develop a plan for how to gauge student progress and completion throughout the project.
  • Consider: What are the consequences of an unfinished goal? Is the goal “mission critical” to the partner? How will you oversee quality control? Establish methods to track student progress and address unfinished objectives. Regular check-ins and interim deliverables can help in maintaining the quality of work. Use previous exemplary student work to help students visualize the products. You could also have multiple groups work on the same project, offering the partner a choice of options at the end, this could mitigate an issue if one group does not meet the quality standards.
• Logistical planning: Establish expectations for the logistics of communication with the partner.
  • Instructors may need to work with partners and students to find mutually agreeable times or look for tools that allow working asynchronously possible. What kind of time can they commit? What is the best way to communicate? How available will they be  day-to-day? How to set up clear lines of communication between the partner and students? Project management software can be useful and provide experience with professional tools, but there are also limitations, including accessibility and privacy issues, cost, and the learning curve.
• Defining Authentic Partnership and Ethical Responsibility: Discuss and clearly define what an authentic partnership and ethical responsibility mean in the context of the partnership. This should include mutual trust, respect, and commitment to the project’s goals, with well-defined roles for partners, instructors, and students.
• Formalizing the partnership: Write up and sign a partnership agreement. Consider a sustainability plan, which includes regular meetings and long term planning. 

To help students succeed in their EL partnership, consider the following. 

• Self and peer evaluations: Provide students with a form to self-evaluate their own ethics and engagement throughout the project. Sample (currently available for download to BU users only): Self-Peer Evaluation
• Regular feedback: Establish consistent feedback mechanisms where students, instructors, and partners can share insights and constructive critiques. This can include periodic surveys, reflection sessions, or feedback forms to ensure continuous improvement and address any concerns promptly. 
• Highlighting real-world impact: Make students aware of the real impact of their work and encourage intrinsic motivation. Use past semester examples/presentations and testimonials from partners or beneficiaries of projects.
• Review expectations: Ensure that the objectives of the project are achievable and align with the capabilities of the students and the needs of the partner. Regularly review and adjust these goals as needed. Adapt the project scope or approach in response to changing circumstances or feedback.
• Weekly Time Allocation: Instructors should consider allocating specific class session times each week for the experiential project. This ensures regular engagement and progress monitoring. Sample: 15 min Team Stand-up meeting slide

Challenges that arise in experiential learning partnerships do not have simple solutions, but here are some suggestions to consider:

• Disrupted partner availability: Partners may have agreed to dedicate a certain amount of time to working with students, but are no longer able to maintain a sufficient amount of communication.

Suggestion: Change direction and develop a new, abridged project. After the course is over, reflect on what went wrong in the partnership and how to avoid that issue in the future.

• Inadequate student work-quality: Despite thorough mechanisms for feedback and assessment, student work may not reach the level deemed appropriate by you and/or the partner.

Suggestion: It can be tempting to complete the work yourself to maintain the relationship –  and sometimes that does happen – but instead, you can be clear and honest with the partner about the quality.

• Data Collection Failures: Scheduling surveys and interviews within a semester time frame can be challenging and can lead to incomplete data collection or the need for adjustments in project timelines and outputs.

Suggestion: Be flexible, and ready to pivot to another method, such as online surveys or previously collected data.

• Unanticipated Partner Expectations: Partners involved in the experiential project may unexpectedly demand or expect additional deliverables beyond what was initially agreed upon, posing challenges in project management and resource allocation.

Suggestion: Revisit the initial agreement and use it as a basis for discussion.

• Workload distribution: Sometimes one student ends up doing a disproportionate amount of the work, or one student does significantly less.

Suggestion: Ask each group to divide the project into specific tasks and assign them to each group member. Also schedule regular meetings to assess progress, address any concerns, and redistribute work if necessary.

• Logistical issues: Difficulty in finding mutually convenient times for meetings.

Suggestion:  Establish an “office hour” as a placeholder

• Role uncertainty: Students might feel that partners treat them more like employees than learners.

Suggestion: Clearly define student roles and emphasize the learning aspect of the project.

• Teamwork challenges: Students not wanting​​ to work with each other.

Suggestion:  Use team-building activities and address any interpersonal issues early on. Encourage the election of team leaders and task assignments among team members.