Social work education fully endorses experiential learning through its field placement component, while experiential teaching methods are only somewhat used in the classroom. This article outlines the utility of action-based mutual aid processes in teaching social work. Three experiential sociometric group tools are presented with their…

Utilizing student-centered pedagogy, this case study explores an increasingly prominent and instructive addition to traditional academic coursework--the field study experience. This is particularly true in the arena of environmental education where students learn best by experiencing environmental problems first-hand and then interacting with…

Significant life experience research suggests that outdoor experiences foster proenvironmental outcomes. Time spent outdoors is more frequently identified as the source of proenvironmental behavior than is education, suggesting that cognition may be less important than affect. Yet, environmental education field programs are often evaluated on…

The school-aged population continues to diversify, yet the student body at small liberal arts teacher preparation programs generally does not. To help prepare our socioculturally homogeneous students to teach a more diverse student body, we developed a three-tiered approach that includes a diversity model integrated across the curriculum, an…

Reports on data from pharmaceutical students' experiential training based on paired baseline and end-of-rotation short-answer tests of 86 students over a 10-year period. Significant improvements from baseline to end-of-rotation were found. Results suggest the value of the written examination as an interactive assessment instrument, but not as a…

The tradition in India of practical/laboratory field work carried out by students individually or in small groups is reviewed, and recommendations for assessing such work are outlined, including such skills as recording observations, interpreting results, planning procedures and techniques for solving special problems. (LBH)

Describes a psychology program to involve undergraduate students in community child care centers. Assessment of student performance indicated that students achieved skill in observation and evaluation techniques but did not develop adequate objectivity. (Author/DB)

Based on a review of literature on social work field learning and analysis of current data on student performance criteria, eight learning objectives for field study were identified. The objectives reflect traditional concepts and contemporary demands on the profession. A student field performance evaluation method using the objectives is…

An electrical engineering program in which a field experience component is used both to enhance training and to evaluate the program's outcomes is described. The curriculum development process is highlighted. (MSE)

Discussion of student evaluation in clinical legal education (CLE) focuses on self-evaluation. It considers the goals of CLE and the role of evaluation methods in accomplishing them, examines three models in which teaching self-evaluation is central, and reviews legal and medical education teaching techniques using explicit and implicit evaluation…

Ideas for enhancing learning from work experience are described, including work-learning progressions, learning descriptions, project development, linking work experience and courses, and educational debriefing. The importance of combining an effective work experience with other parts of the educational program is emphasized. (Author/SF)

A program developed at Illinois State University for coordinating internships and other credit-generating field experiences is described. The work experiences are planned, administered, and supervised at the department level and coordinated through a university-wide central office. (Author/SF)

A survey of 54 pharmacy schools' experiential learning programs found that most either were reviewing or had adopted nationally recognized competencies into their experiential programs, but a third had made no such effort. Almost all used a formative or interim evaluation process and a student performance evaluation process, some with written…

Suggestions for evaluating experiential learning programs, especially the effects of various forms of experiential learning on different types of learners, are discussed. Evaluation designs currently in use involve a four-tier hierarchy: (1) participant responses; (2) use of measurement instruments; (3) attribution of measurable effects to a…

This document contains the proceedings of a two-day symposium conducted to analyze four different perspectives (psychological, economic, anthropological, and sociological) on evaluating experiential education programs. The perspectives are represented in papers by Samuel H. Osipow, Psychology, Ohio State University; Nicholas M. Kiefer, Economics,…