Experiential Learning
Place-Based Possibilities: Experiential Learning Ideas for WR Courses
This guide helps instructors connect place-based experiences and experiential learning to different courses in the WR sequence. Guiding Questions for Adventures Outside of the Classroom How can students engage deeply and safely with a place/event and its community/ies? What clear ground rules can you create to protect students while giving them freedom to explore? How wide […]
Outdoor Class Meetings and Activities
We at BU know the value of connecting students to this campus and beyond, of making local-global connections. We at Boston Now, a curricular initiative in Boston University’s CAS Writing Program that focuses on outside-the-classroom experiences and place-based learning, see the whole university/city/world as a classroom. We need to expand the traditional classroom, emphasize the value of […]
Individual in Community Assignment
This assignment asks students to participate in and reflect on an activity, outside of class time, to strengthen their engagement with the Individual in Community Hub unit (WR 111). Note that an alternate version of this activity, which does not ask students to work in groups and which is written to accommodate online/remote events if […]
Place-based Learning
Each Flipped Learning Module (FLM) is a set of short videos and online activities that can be used (in whole or in part) to free up class time from content delivery for greater student interaction. At the end of the module, students are asked to fill out a brief survey, in which we adopt the […]
Metacognition
Each Flipped Learning Module (FLM) is a set of short videos and online activities that can be used (in whole or in part) to free up class time from content delivery for greater student interaction. At the end of the module, students are asked to fill out a brief survey, in which we adopt the […]
Sample WR 120/15x Assignment: Academic Paper on an Outside-of-Class Experience
Use this template to help design a paper assignment based on an outside-of-class experience. Expand the focus of the paper to include information literacy skills and library research for WR 15x courses. Sample paper assignments are provided at the end of the template. Objective To use observations, field notes, and/or reflections on outside-of-class experiences […]
Formulating Questions and Claims Based on Observations
In this exercise/activity, students work on their own and in groups to generate and evaluate questions and claims based on their observations or notes from an outside-of-class learning experience. Objective To turn students’ observations into claims and questions; to evaluate stronger and weaker questions/claims; to plan for an essay using students’ own observations as a […]
Crafting a Template for Your Observation Notes
Use these questions before an outside-of-class-experience to guide students to develop an organized structure for their notes. Students may answer these questions individually or in small groups, depending on the class and assignment, and then may discuss the different approaches they are planning to take. Objective To develop an organized, yet flexible structure for notes […]
Pre-Reflection for Outside-the-Classroom Experiences
Use these guiding questions to have students activate prior knowledge, make predictions about their experiences, and otherwise reflect before going into the field or community to participate in experiential learning. Some instructors may also want to have students fill out a K-W-L chart before (and after) their experience, depending on the site and/or assignment. These […]