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Course Description

Experiential Education Theory and Practice provides an examination of the philosophy, theory, and pedagogies of experiential education. This course is designed for anyone working in formal or informal education settings and is applicable across fields. Through discussing the history, development, and modern iterations of experiential education, participants will experience the ways in which experiential education can be utilized and applied in their own contexts. Experiential education informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people's capacity to contribute to their communities.

Course Outline

This is a hybrid course, with a mixture of synchronous virtual meetings, self-paced content, and in-person meetings. The course will begin with a 2-hour in-person meeting where we will introduce content, build community, and set the expectations for the course. 

After the in-person meeting, there are four 1-week virtual units with self-paced content. The units will include readings, reflections, and opportunities to identify skills and areas of practice to develop. These units will focus on the skills and behaviors of a facilitative teacher and participants will be asked to think about ways to make their professional practice more facilitative. 

A significant portion of this course will be identifying, practicing, and receiving feedback on the skills and behaviors of a facilitative teacher. Throughout the course, participants will be asked to identify skills they’d like to develop. We will provide feedback to each other that is designed to motivate future growth and connect course content to their classroom context. 

The final course meeting will be an in-person capstone experience and will provide an opportunity to practice and receive feedback on the skills developed over the previous weeks. 

Course Themes

• Building community, developing community commitments
• Defining and exploring the differences between facilitation and teaching 
• Rethinking your teaching practice and incorporating new skills 
• Designing a facilitative activity/lesson/unit to implement with your students 
• Implement and reflect on your facilitative teaching skills and revised activity/lesson
• Practice facilitative teaching skills in a supportive community where you can give and receive feedback 

Course Schedule

• In-person course kickoff meeting: September 26th, 5-7pm 
• Self-paced virtual unit 1: September 27th-October 4th 
• Self-paced virtual unit 2: October 5th-October 11th 
• Self-paced virtual unit 3: October 12th-October 18th 
• Self-paced virtual unit 4: October 19th- October 24th 
• In-person course capstone meeting: October 24th, 5-7pm 

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, learners will:

• Examine the history and development of experiential education, including major voices in history
• Discuss modern iterations of experiential education, including theways in which it is utilized within higher education and other educational communities
• Apply concepts of experiential education to their own practice and in their own environments
• Discuss aspects of equity and justice as connected to experiential education

Instructor Information

Dr. Evan Small
Lecturer in Wellness, School of Education

Dr. Evan Small is a faculty member in the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education at Elon University. His background includes a strong focus in experiential education, social justice education, and critical pedagogy. He has worked in service-learning, global engagement, and outdoor education in addition to prior experience as a middle school social studies teacher. He teaches classes on facilitation, project-based and place-based learning, and teacher education at Elon. 

Carol Smith
Professor in Wellness, School of Education

Academic Year 2024-2025 is Dr. Carol A Smith's 26th year at Elon University. She is the Program Coordinator for the Outdoor Leadership & Education major and Adventure Based Learning minor.

Her degrees are: BS in Physical Education/Teacher Education, MEd in Health & Physical Education, MS in Curriculum & Instruction in Special Education and the PhD in Kinesiology with a concentration in Outdoor Education.  She teaches outdoor experiential learning, study abroad with content in adventure based eco-tourism (to New Zealand) and an Integrative Core Capstone course on the Modern Summer Olympic Games.