Experiential learning doesn’t need a classroom
Published: March 24, 2023
Sitting on the orange round sofa in the Experience Hub, a freshman student brainstorms with her classmates for their Experience First project. She discusses with the group what they’ve researched and how to meet the need of their business partner they’re working with this semester. Suddenly, she has an idea; she runs to the whiteboard corner, grabs her favorite green marker, and quickly sketches it out for everyone to see.
A story like this is an example of experiential learning that takes place at GU thanks to support from generous donors.
Professors at GU apply experiential learning techniques throughout their curriculum. The learning process is enhanced when students engage in something new, reflect, and evaluate those experiences. Learning occurs in a variety of spaces at GU, including:
- In classrooms and online,
- In unique campus spaces like the Experience Hub,
- On trips to cities like Chicago, Bloomington, St. Louis, or Nashville, and
- During study-abroad trips to Israel, Spain, and England.
Thank you for providing outside-the-classroom experiences for students like the digital media and marketing trip to Chicago where students learn from experts in the field.
Experience Institute
Danara Moore leads GU’s Experience Institute. She works with faculty to create experiences for students which facilitate experiential learning while building a combination of hard and soft skills, and character. She also works to transform service projects into life-changing experiences. Students are often seen cleaning up the community, volunteering, etc. Students can find her located in GU’s Experience Hub on the main floor of Ruby E. Dare Library.
The Experience Hub
This space grew into a reality because based on the idea that where we learn can impact how we learn. Moore shares that when students walk into a typical classroom setting, the room itself tells them how to behave. Take a moment and image desks arranged in perfect rows facing a chalkboard; students are seated and hyper-focused on the presenter. At GU, the Experience Hub, also known as “The Hub” takes a different approach.
Moore recognizes that the type of student is changing and most of GU’s traditional students are considered Gen Z. The Experience Hub, designed in recognition of how an environment affects student learning, aims to enhance students' experience, and encourage a certain type of learning. Students are inspired by interiors like The Tree House (pictured), which connect the space to nature and inspire curiosity. Various colorful things are available for the senses to see, feel, and touch and teams of students can collaborate comfortably. Moore paid great attention to small details to create the best Experience Hub for GU students.
Spaces like The Experience Hub help spark creativity and learning for students, thanks to donors like you.
What’s new in The Hub:
This past summer, The Hub received some new technology and furniture to help students feel prepared for their studies. For example, the addition of new TVs that can host zoom calls, a Whiteboard for brainstorming, and bean bags for an alternative study area.
A flexible classroom built for success
The final learning space is a flexible classroom, which uses an electronic garage door to expand the “indoor-outdoor space” to accommodate large groups. Additionally, the classroom features sensory node chairs for easy transitions from a lecture to a seminar to group work.
Mark Nguyen, a GU sophomore said: “The Experience Hub is a great place for group study. We can easily gather in whichever place we feel most comfortable—my top choices are the rooms with a display screen and moveable chairs. I like it a lot!”
On any given day, you’ll find students either in the classroom space, the conference room, or spread out around the Hub talking, brainstorming, collaborating, and more. You may also see a senior student like Maddy with a bag of coffee beans practicing her sales pitch for her sales management course. Students in the class are tasked with selling a certain amount of coffee and encouraged to spend time researching and working on their “pitch.”
“It was definitely an experience that was out of my comfort zone,” she says. “But through advice from classmates and even staff that I practiced my sales pitch with, it helped me understand the process and gain helpful experience.”
When you fund a scholarship through the GU Fund, you support valuable experiential learning for students. Thank you for giving the gift of experience. Click here to give.
