Essential Education

Essential Education Experience for Faculty

Teaching an Experience course can be exciting and overwhelming at the start. There is a network of support and many resources to help you connect with a community partner, find course resources, and troubleshoot any issues that come up.

Course Planning Resources

Ready to design an Essential Education Experience course? You're in the right place.

Experience courses offer faculty a unique opportunity to engage students in meaningful, hands-on learning that connects classroom knowledge with real-world challenges. These upper-division courses are intentionally designed to deepen students’ understanding of cultural, civic, and global issues while helping them develop key skills they’ll carry into their careers and communities.

Whether you’re starting from scratch or adapting an existing course, the resources below will help you meet the core requirements and plan a transformative experience for your students.

Faculty Experience Course Interest Form

Join the Experience Course Community of Practice

The Experience Course Community of Practice is a space for anyone interested in, or currently teaching, an Essential Education Experience to come together and learn from one another. We will meet multiple times during the Fall and Spring semesters, with themed conversations to support you in developing your Experience course. 

Please email cmvandam@mtu.edu to get involved. 

Essential Education Resource Hub

View the Experience page on Canvas in the Essential Education Resource Hub for resources such as:

  • Checklist for planning an Experience course
  • Logistics of Transportation
  • Examples of Experience courses
  • Syllabus and assignment examples
  • ePortfolio templates and rubrics

Requirements of Experience Courses

Essential Education Experience courses will increase students’ social awareness, global understandings, and/or cultural competencies through hands-on learning. 

The 3-credit, upper-division course is intended for students in their junior year and should prepare them for an ever-changing, dynamic, and diverse world. The goal of an Experience course is for students to learn from multiple perspectives, applying their Essential Abilities toward a project or activity that engages with the community beyond the traditional classroom.

Required Course Elements

All Experience courses must have the following course elements:

  1. Experiential learning outside of the traditional classroom
  2. Regular critical reflection assignments
  3. Interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving (taught within SHAPE disciplines)
  4. Course content covering best practices and ethical standards for engaging with stakeholders
  5. Student work is showcased in ePortfolio
  6. Substantial support for ONE Essential Ability from the Contribute/Transform Learning Goal (Engage in Civic Life, Innovate Solutions, Create)

To view more detailed information about course requirements, view the Essential Education Course List Requirements.

student working on a project

Connecting with Community Partners

There are many potential projects within our local community, and you have support in finding who will be the best fit for your course!

For support with finding a community partner, please fill out the Faculty Experience Course Interest Form and/or reach out to the Essential Education Experience Manager, Cassandra Reed-VanDam (cmvandam@mtu.edu). 

In the Essential Education Resource Hub, you will find guidance in best practices for working with community partners, a project planning template, a community partner agreement form, and other resources.

Funding

Keep your eyes peeled for the Experience Course Development RFP - released in April every year. Successful proposals usually range from $3,500 to $5,000, and expenses are allocated to faculty time for course development, site visits to community partners, and limited materials.