Participatory Learning
Students Put Classroom Knowledge to Work

Elizabeth White, who graduated in June 2000 with a psychology degree, appreciates the time she spent as an intern at the Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene during her senior year. White helped develop evaluation tools for preschoolers, adolescents and adults in the Center’s art classes; helped create a video that represented the center; and worked with pre-schoolers in a class, “Art All Around Us.”

White says the internship introduced her to nonprofit organizations, teaching and the amazing art community here in Eugene, as well as elsewhere. “I think that having done this internship, some of my ideas about my future were enhanced, like working with people of all ages and having the opportunity to always be creative, while totally new ideas, such as working for a nonprofit organization, were introduced,” she says.

White’s internship was part of the University of Oregon’s new focus on Participatory Learning Experiences (PLEs), which enable students to put classroom learning into practice. Through PLEs, students can earn academic credit while exploring their vocational and avocational interests.

PLEs encompass a range of hands-on learning opportunities, including internships, volunteer projects, field studies, laboratory activities and individual research projects closely supervised by faculty. They are broadened conceptions of traditional internships, says Donald Van Houten, former Arts and Sciences dean who chairs an advisory committee that coordinates PLE programs across campus. PLEs should enhance students’ abilities to analyze problems, develop solutions and communicate clearly, he says.

Created as part of the university’s Process for Change—a two-year effort to plan and implement ideas for educational improvements—PLEs play an important role in the university’s efforts to create a more student-centered education model. While the concept is not new to the UO, the current emphasis on PLEs will expand and improve these learning opportunities throughout the university.

Van Houten’s committee has established a set of criteria to help ensure students have a quality experience and know what to expect from departments. He says the criteria also are important because they help “community partners” who are supervising students know what to expect from students and the university.

Standards specify that PLEs must be related to departmental educational objectives, they must be graded on a pass/no pass basis, and departments must approve and supervise the students’ involvement.

Jane S. De Gidio, associate vice provost for the Division of Student Academic Affairs and a committee member, says student involvement on campus and in the community helps ensure student success. She adds that students who do internships are more likely to get jobs in their field.

Already more than twenty-five departments and schools have signed up to offer PLEs, including CAS departments such as anthropology, English, geography, biology, psychology, linguistics, theatre arts, and exercise and movement science, to name a few.

Doris Payne, a professor of linguistics, believes PLEs benefit students by providing greater world awareness and a firsthand knowledge of the research process. Payne has had undergraduates work with her on a variety of linguistics research projects, including the Yagua texts, a minority language of South America, and the Maasai language project. She says these kinds of research opportunities have helped students develop skills uniquely related to linguistics research, such as the understanding and use of electronic/database programs for text analysis and use of acoustic phonetic tools for language processing.

PLEs are particularly prevalent in exercise and movement science, a popular area of study for students who plan to work in health professions. For Lacey Alexander, who recently received a bachelor’s degree in exercise and movement science and general science, completing an internship at the Eye Center gave her an opportunity to gain clinical experience and to observe the practice of medicine in order to aid her career decisions. She also was able to integrate the knowledge she was gaining from her classes with the practical experience she was acquiring at the Eye Center.

“I enjoyed the connection between the material we covered in anatomy and how that knowledge is applied clinically,” she says. “There was a patient who was diagnosed with pupil sparing diabetic third nerve (oculomotor nerve) palsy, as I was studying the cranial nerves and their functions in anatomy. Not knowing the diagnosis, I was given this patient’s case as a research question. When presented with the question, I immediately concluded that the diagnosis had something to do with a disorder of the oculomotor nerve simply from my anatomical knowledge. This situation is an example of a culminating moment during the course of my internship of the integration between academic knowledge and clinical application.”

The College of Arts & Sciences hopes to bring awareness to the opportunities presented by the university’s emphasis on participatory learning. Last spring, as part of a challenge grant, the Annual Giving Program raised more than $25,000 in Telefund donations for PLEs. CAS Director of Development David Begun says, “Our faculty and our donors are excited about this program. We’re grateful to all the donors who helped us meet this challenge.”

Graduate Elizabeth White says PLEs create diversity within the college education experience, and students should take advantage of them. “I would recommend that if anyone has the desire or opportunity to do an internship to do so,” she says.

Photo: PLEs give students in several CAS departments, such as exercise and movement science, an opportunity to apply knowledge to practice.