Experiential learning has been a buzzword in higher education for a number of years, but what does it actually look like in practice? For many students accustomed to traditional lecture-based education, it can be difficult to imagine a more practical, creative, and interdisciplinary approach to their university learning.
Douglas and Doreen Jose Student Experience Enhancement Award Winner Meira fixing underwater equipment in Indonesia
To help inspire such out-of-the-box thinking, Macdonald Campus’ Office of Experiential Learning and Community Outreach (OELCO) works closely with donors to provide the Student Experience Enhancement Fund (SEEF). SEEF helps students discover their potential beyond the lecture hall by providing financial support for pursuing unique extracurricular opportunities in research, skill training, volunteering, and community service.
Over the last four years, SEEF recipients have participated in a wide variety of activities—from field work in the mangroves of Brazil to hosting a robotics hackathon. All students submit a report at the conclusion of their project, allowing us to hear about their challenges, triumphs, surprises, and gratitude in their own words.
Microbiology student Lochlan received SEEF funding to support a month of fieldwork in the high Arctic, where he collected DNA and gas flux from the permafrost to examine the effects of climate change on the microbes living in the soil. But beyond just furthering his research, his experience in the Arctic was a time of deep personal growth as he was able to experience for the first time the same landscapes his own grandfather had flown as a bush pilot.
“Now that I have been a passenger in the same planes he flew,” says Lochlan, “I can understand why he loved the people and scenery of the North so much...thanks to the donors, I have gained an appreciation for those who live and work in the Arctic, I have learned how to plan for field work, and I have finally seen the beautiful tundra that has inspired my research.”
This pursuit of personal interests and creative opportunities in education is exactly what drove Macdonald alumni Douglas Jose and the late Doreen Jose to provide funding for experiential learning initiatives. “A more enlightened formal education will lead to a more satisfying career,” says Jose, “Macdonald was an inspiring community for me. My wish is to help future graduates achieve that feeling and enter a professional career with confidence”.
SEEF award winner Lochlan gathering soil samples in the Arctic
Meira’s program also involved community work with a recycling centre, and collaboration with a local organization to help restore mangrove and coral reef habitats. Meira’s project placed her in the very same marine environment and ecosystems she studied in the classroom, and she left with a deeper understanding of their complexity and vulnerabilities; a kind of understanding that only comes with in-person, on-site field work.
“I learned so much thanks to the hands-on approach,” says Meira, “This sort of knowledge and experience would be extremely difficult to obtain without participating in this internship. I would like to thank Mr. Jose for making this internship possible for me.”