Experiential learning and problem solving are – and have been – distinctive features of the education The University of Akron (UA) has provided for almost 150 years. As a strategic priority, it is my goal to encourage innovation in this kind of teaching and learning.
In service of this goal, I am announcing support for a new, pilot initiative that builds on the successful model of “unclasses” (sponsored by the EXL Center for Experiential Learning and Civic Engagement).
Our Vision for Akron (OVA) will bring together groups of students, faculty, and staff around shared central concerns or themes which address real-world problems. Together they will create seminars, innovative workshops and other co-curricular activities that will be problem-based, transdisciplinary, and dynamic.
- Problem-based because research shows that students want their college work to address problems that matter, not solely to prepare them for a career.
- Transdisciplinary because the most challenging problems of today are complex, do not fit within any single discipline, and extend across established knowledge domains.
- Dynamic because a transdisciplinary approach constantly reveals new and unexpected dimensions, perspectives that must be brought to bear, and innovative opportunities to follow. Such problems also require engagement of universities with community partners that reciprocally sustain one another.
The first step in the OVA Initiative is to foster several experiments this academic year that will engage students, faculty and staff in designing and testing novel academic pathways for tackling real-world problems. Under the umbrella concept of sustainability, compelling themes that cut across college lines have already begun to emerge from student-driven activity on campus.
One example is an initiative fueled by two dedicated student groups, Engineers for a Sustainable World and Zips Precious Plastics, that brings engineering students into collaboration with students from the social sciences, art, business and education. Their focus has drawn members of campus together with local industry, non-profit and community organizations to develop new coursework, scholarship, research, and community-university partnerships for problem-based, and community-engaged efforts addressing the scientific, social, economic, and ecological challenges of plastics in our modern world.
This fall, already identified pilot experiments, including the one above, will be fostered for implementation in Spring 2020. As the experiments unfold, a committee of faculty – organized through EXL - will observe and develop a process for soliciting, evaluating, and recommending future projects. Successful experiments will reveal their potential for academic enhancement and transformation at UA through a rigorous evaluation process. The goal is to have two or three such experimental, theme-based projects, with relevant academic and co-curricular activities, in the 2020-21 academic year.
I encourage EXL leaders and the faculty involved to work closely with their respective deans, chairs, and directors to implement this pilot program; I also urge deans, chairs and directors to be flexible and creative in scheduling the classes of faculty participating in these special projects, consistent with the relevant workload guidelines. I hope this mutual cooperation with extend to the cross listing of seminars so as to foster broad, transdisciplinary participation by students. I have provided new financial resources to the EXL Center to support this initiative to help cover the costs of these pilot experiments.
If these experiments are successful, I expect this approach will be continued into the future, adding a source of constant innovation to the experiential learning at UA.
Announcements of open meetings for each of the pilot initiatives will follow shortly in The Digest. Please contact Carolyn Behrman, Co-Director of EXL, at 330-972-5477 or behrman@uakron.edu with questions.
Sincerely,
Dr. John C. Green
Interim President
The University of Akron