How experiential education relates to college goals and objectives

The impact of a college community service laboratory on students' personal, social, and cognitive outcomes

“…While these personal and social developments of service-learning are generally acknowledged, it has largely remained marginal to the college curriculum because of a lack of confidence in its impact on student learning. (Gore and Nelson, 1984). Because the primary commitment of college staff is to cognitive growth, if these programs are to become established, it is important to assess learning as well as attitudinal outcomes.…”

Faculty and staff members' perceptions of internships in the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University

“…The development of systematic assessment procedures to translate experiential learning into academic credit, and the evaluation of student progress toward the learning objectives are the greatest concerns in educational evaluation (Gore and Nelson, 1984).…”

“…In terms of measurement, because experiential learning differs from traditional classroom learning, its assessment and evaluation require the consideration of measurement techniques that are valid and reliable for assessing learning outcomes. The development of systematic assessment procedures to translate experiential learning into academic credit, and the evaluation of student progress toward the learning objectives are the greatest concerns in educational evaluation (Gore and Nelson, 1984). The lack of sound and well-defined program goals is one of the major obstacles in the designing and implementing the evaluation of experiential learning programs.…”

“…The lack of sound and well-defined program goals is one of the major obstacles in the designing and implementing the evaluation of experiential learning programs. On Assessing how college education objectives related to experiential learning in Cornell University, Gore and Nelson (1984) found that lack of faculty agreement with experiential learning goals and faculty unwillingness to endorse offcampus learning experiences conflicted with the published philosophy of the college. The authors argued that because goals for experiential learning were not stated in measurable terms nor were they readily available or easy to identify, the development of adequate measuring instruments to assess student change was difficult.…”

An interview study of community college student perspectives on service-learning

“…There is so much government support and educational praise that we are not responding to the concerns of this faction which may include a majority of faculty who are uncomfortable with the interface between experiential learning and academic learning. Many fear losing control of the curriculum and not being in charge of the students' out-of-class experiences, and many object to the enormous work-load involved (Gore and Nelson, 1984 The service-learning network sheds light on the fact that not all service-learning advocates are in agreement on many issues facing service-learning in higher education, as well. Many of these educators express discomfort with movements toward a "best" approach or what books best serve the interests of service-learning.…”