Course Grant Information

Experiential learning is a priority of the University of Iowa campus, and multiple campus-wide initiatives focused on applied learning are underway in support of expanding access and creating additional opportunities on and off campus.  

As such, the P3 project Closing the Gap: Experiential Education for all Undergraduates aims to create more curricular experiential learning opportunities for students within their program of study.  

The purpose of this grant program is to increase undergraduate student access to and participation in experiential learning, especially those not otherwise participating. Integrating experiential learning into coursework builds access into the student experience, reducing time and cost barriers. This also promotes reflection and integration with academic course concepts.  

This grant program funds undergraduate experiential education courses that will be sustainable over time and offered regularly in order for students to anticipate and plan for experiential opportunities in their programs of study.

After securing this one-time funding, it is intended that grant awardees demonstrate the impact/outcomes of the funds in order to secure ongoing funding through their department or other means.

The January 2024 Grant Application cycled is closed.

For the purpose of the University of Iowa 2022-2027 Strategic Plan, experiential learning is defined as the practice of learning through applied experience –curricular or cocurricular, and guided reflection on those experiences (Kolb, 1984). These experiences help students apply knowledge and theory through conceptual, practical and reflective components. Experiential learning could include but is not limited to research, community engagement, internships, student-employment, study abroad, applied class work, student organization leadership, or service.

For the purpose of this grant program, applicants are encouraged to use the full cycle of experiential education:  framing, application, reflection, and synthesis.  You can see deeper explanation and examples of these experiential education components on page 2 of this resource document.

 

There are hundreds of other experiential courses across the University; these are just a few examples as you begin your application.  

Experiential education can meaningfully occur at all course levels, however it may serve a different purpose than a general education course.
Please keep this in mind when drafting your application.

As you apply for funds, do not hesitate to contact Angi McKie, Executive Director of the Career Center with any questions.  The following resources may be helpful as you consider ideas for new courses or new experiential education components, or as you more fully develop a course.

The Experiential Education Cycle

Community Engaged Teaching and Learning

Faculty-led Study Abroad

Center for Teaching Resource Collections

  1. Existing courses – already experiential  
    Existing undergraduate-level courses that are already experiential in nature and would like to enhance that component are eligible to apply for one-time funding and assistance in enhancing the applied elements of the course.  

  2. Existing courses – not yet experiential  
    Existing undergraduate-level courses that would like to apply for grant funds to remodel their course into a newly experiential course are eligible to apply for one-time funding and assistance in creating applied elements of the course.  

  3. New experiential courses 
    Academic departments that have ideas, concepts and instructor(s) for undergraduate-level courses that are not yet developed may apply for experiential course development funds through this program. Departments may apply for one-time funding for development and execution of the new course. 

For course development funds, the credit hour and course type allocations are as follows:

Credit Hours

New Course

Existing Course

1 s.h.

$2,500

$1,500

2 s.h.

$3,000

$2,000

3 s.h.

$3,500

$2,500

  • Application open: July 5, 2023 

  • Application close: The application will close on January 5, 2024

  • Notification: Awardees will be notified by January 26, 2024 

  • Funding Released: Course development award is released approximately one month before course start date. Funding for supplies are released as needed.  

Note: new courses should be mindful of Academic Planner open and close dates.

Note on fund use: Funds may be used for course development and execution of the course experiential elements within the course, but not course instruction.

Support provided (financial and developmental) will include participation with the following offices as an expectation:

  • Course Development Stipend and/or Supplies 

  • Center for Teaching 

  • Support before, during, and after the course is taught 

  • Pomerantz Career Center, Office of Undergraduate Research, Office of Community Engagement dependent upon the course type  

All courses funded will meet with Pomerantz Career Center and the Center for Teaching to determine needs, discuss proposed course outcomes and future consultations necessary to achieve those agreed upon goals. At that time consultations with Center for Teaching, Pomerantz Career Center, Office of Community Engagement or Office of Undergraduate Research will be recommended to achieve those goals and an agreement will be made.

Existing courses: 

  • Above mentioned meeting, plus;  

  • After the course, have a minimum of one consultation one of the following: Pomerantz Career Center, Office of Undergraduate Research, Office of Community Engagement dependent upon the course type to discuss the course evaluation and Center for Teaching if agreed upon.

New Courses: 

  • Above mentioned meeting for all courses, plus; 

  • Have a minimum of one or two consultation meetings with an appropriate subject matter expert office (I.e. Pomerantz Career Center, Office of Community Engagement, Office of Undergraduate Research)  

  • Have a minimum of one meeting with Center for Teaching after the semester is over to discuss the course evaluation if agreed upon.

Here is a sample of the application questions.  

Here is the budget form that you will use.

Please note that in addition to course development funds, you may apply for up to $2,500 in course materials/supplies.   When making your budget request, you will describe your plan for sustaining the cost of materials beyond this grant period.

Successful proposals will: 

  • Demonstrate departmental commitment to the sustainability of the course over multiple semesters through a letter of support from the departmental DEO and identified instructor or instruction team 
  • Identify the challenges in developing/revising the course, including current and previous barriers 
  • Describe what support would be most useful in developing or revising the experiential component of the course 
  • Include a course budget for two semesters of the course including targeted minimum enrollment for the course 
  • Include course summary, learning outcomes, modality, applied elements of course 
  • Include how you will promote or encourage student enrollment in this course 
  • Demonstrate how the course will expand access to students who are not otherwise participating in experiential learning. And/or, demonstrate how the course’s experiential learning will be enhanced by the funding.  

For questions regarding the application process, please contact Angi McKie at angi-mckie@uiowa.edu.

Irene Lottini, Department of French and Italian, Faculty-led study abroad, ITAL:2330 – Mafia, Anti-Mafia, and Social Sustainability      
Experiential learning includes cultural exchange, interactions with witnesses of Mafia crimes, relatives of Mafia victims, and anti-mafia activists, and collaborations or service at confiscated and converted properties, such as community centers, rehabilitation centers, public gardens, farms, and tourist housing. Through the different experiential components, this course will help students reflect on the notions of social justice, social commitment, community engagement, and sustainable development.  

Mark Bruckner, Department of Theater Arts, THTR:2690 – Sound Excursions: The Evolving Soundscape and the Reverberations of Human Activity 
Experiential learning includes field research where students apply conceptual learning to real world experience of field recording in different acoustic territories. In addition to learning key concepts about biodiversity, sustainability, and environmental justice as viewed through the lens of soundscape change, each student will do a project that is scientific, ethnographic, or creative in nature.  

Matthew McGill, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, CBE:4460 – Process and Design for Technologies, Science Sensors, and Satellites   
Experiential learning includes participating in design processes by building interoperable modules which apply lecture concepts in fun, creative, and low-stress ways. Instead of participating in prescribed laboratory activities with predetermined outcomes, students learn the processes and requirements for developing and implementing advanced technologies and science sensors while answering questions including: How are requirements derived?  How do scientists and numerous engineering disciplines fit together and work together? How do you recover from problems and their associated impacts? Why is my module not working or how can I make it work more efficiently or accurately? What can I learn from others’ methods and challenges? After going through the design process, students will demonstrate their final product via public display. 

Paul Dilley, Department of Classics, CLSG:3001 – Archaic and Classical Periods
Experiential learning is being added to the course through the use of digitized original manuscripts and papyrus rolls, as well as trips to Special Collections to collaborate with curator Eric Ensley to handle and use centuries-old books for translation experience. Once this course is updated, there are plans to use the instructional lessons learned to update three other courses, teach other instructors how to use the new methods, and help students start to use original works as early as their first year, taking them from only using a textbook of standardized translations to understanding Classics as a living, complex textual and cultural experience. 

Nicholas Martini, Department of Political Science, POLI:3001 – Hawkeye Poll 
Experiential learning includes active involvement in all aspects of survey research in a real-world setting, including survey sampling, question wording, data collection, data analysis, and report preparation and dissemination. Political Science students learn of the challenges and nuances of survey research first-hand through public opinion polling. 

Adam Brummett, Department of Chemistry, Faculty-led study abroad, ABRD:3049 – Sustainable Chemistry along the Rhine River: Germany, Switzerland, and France 
Experiential learning includes cultural exchange and real-life examples of how research concepts are applied to sustainable chemistry and complex problem solving. Students will interact with globally recognized researchers in a variety of institutions – academia, industry, and national labs, as well as representatives from EU parliament. This will be the first chemistry faculty-led study abroad offered by UI. 

Elizabeth Menninga, Department of Political Science, POLI:3527 – Civil War Research Lab 
Experiential learning includes contributing to, reflecting upon, and improving research design, coding protocols, and quality control procedures. In addition to activities, students will develop and improve research protocols, code and/or calculate data, and identify a research or policy-relevant question related to the work done throughout the semester, using data gathered by the class to answer the question. This course adds to experiential learning opportunities for International Relations students. 

Beatrice Mkenda, Department of French and Italian, SWAH:2002 – Intermediate Swahili II 
Experiential learning includes immersive community trips to practice Swahili and engage with the Swahili speaking community in the Iowa City area. Through trips to local African markets, restaurants, and Stanley Museum of Art, students will interact with food, art, family structure, and culture and converse with Swahili speakers. Interaction with community members from countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Congo, and Tanzania will expose students to language practice and culture through real life interactions, applications, and examples.   

Ray Fagenbaum, Department of Health and Human Physiology, HHP:3700 – Healthcare Communications 
Experiential learning includes extensive simulations and role plays to practice clinically relevant communication skills. Student outcomes include the ability to take a patient history and ability to communicate the history to other medical professionals. The course builds upon content and theory from pre-requisites as well as introduces and allows application of communication competencies. The course adds to experiential learning opportunities for Human Physiology students as well as students in pre-health programs and a newly created Clinical Physiology track.  

Julie Gros-Louis, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, What Animals Can Teach Us about Being Human
Experiential learning includes a combination of research, field work, and service-learning. Students will explore topics such as language and communication, development, emotion, social behavior and learning through a comparative psychology lens. Through their service and outreach at community organizations, students will connect disciplinary knowledge to application in order to understand the connection between human and animal needs in relation to climate, sustainability, and social justice. This will be the only undergraduate course in the department that involves hands-on interaction with community groups and civic engagement. 

Emilie Maurel-Destruel, Department of French and Italian, FREN:3007 – French Phonetics
Experiential learning includes two components. First, students will converse weekly with native-French speakers in partner-universities in France. Second, students will also be involved in a community-based multilingual oral history project led by the Center for Language and Culture Learning. Students will conduct oral history interviews at the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County and Global Food project, exposing them to the French-speaking African diaspora including Togolese and Congolese immigrants in Iowa. Both activities allow students to apply knowledge learned during the theoretical portions of the class by practicing authentic speech with native speakers of various dialects. 

Paula Amad, Department of Cinematic Arts, Moviegoing Memories from the Midwest 

Experiential learning includes community engagement, place-based research and production and preservation of professional oral history recordings focused on the social dimensions of moviegoing memories of family and community elders.  This course will be the first community-engaged course in the department, bridging film studies and film production. 

Inara Verzemnieks, Department of English, CNW:2991 & CNW:2992 - Publishing I & Publishing II 

After introducing key concepts of literary publishing, experiential learning reinforces them through extended practice putting students in charge of all aspects of the publishing process.   Students produce a literary publication from scratch, taking on various roles and responsibilities from soliciting commissions, editorial oversight, copyediting, design, budgeting, and marketing to produce and bring to press a bespoke publication by the end of the semester.   In the second course, students work as part of a professional publishing house to bring a book to publication, culminating in a book launch event.  These creative, project-based courses also end in real world events, allowing students to grapple with various roles, skills, challenges, and decisions relevant to not only their professional development but to seeing the immediate impact it has on the audience reception of their works.  Each course will reach 40-80 students per semester. 

Jennifer Sterling, Department of Sports, Media, & Culture, SMC:4500 - Sport, Media & Culture Capstone 

Experiential learning includes community-engagement with national or local partners to contribute to recommendations and advocacy for equity in sports coverage or access to sport.  The community-engaged projects will help students grapple with and understand the contemporary U.S. sports’ relationship with the media and how it intersects with other institutions, politics, economics, demographics, and culture.   The capstone and community-engaged projects culminate this new program of study’s curriculum, giving students the opportunity to synthesize and apply the skills they have developed through their prior course work.  

Anneke Sanders, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, BMB:3140 - Experimental Biochemistry 

Experiential learning includes flipping the course from learning and practicing techniques to allowing students to act as researchers.  Students will frame hypothesis instead of following pre-designed research questions, test their hypotheses, and perform quantitative data analysis of their acquired data.  They will then communicate findings and conclusions, reflecting at various points on the experience and outcomes, and allowing students to see a full research project from design to completion.  The course provides access to genuine research experiences to 60 students each semester it is taught. 

 Katherine Mellen, Department of Health and Human Physiology, HHP:3820 -Community Wellness Guided Practicum 

Experiential learning includes partnership with the UI Food Pantry to plan, implement, and evaluate hands-on pantry activities including, cooking demonstrations, nutrition education, and health screenings. The course increases access to local experiential learning by reducing barriers to students such as transportation and financial costs. It allows students to evaluate and synthesize knowledge through client and staff feedback and poster presentations.  

David Supp-Montgomerie, Department of Communication Studies, COMM:2829 - Leadership for Civic Dialogue 

Experiential learning includes student facilitation of peer civic dialogues.  After content framing, students will practice active listening, effective questioning, and balancing structure and openness through 5 workshops and then put their skills to use in real and relevant situations by acting as facilitators for the Division of Student Life’s Day of Dialogue events.  

Kanika Arora, College of Public Health, CPH:3700 - Methods of Program Implementation and Evaluation 

Experiential learning includes community partnerships to design, implement, and evaluate public health interventions. Community partners will provide students with an identified need in their community, answer questions, and provide feedback on proposed plans, allowing students to apply concepts taught in class, preparing them for situations they will encounter after graduation, and meeting needs of Iowa communities where public health departments are understaffed and/or overwhelmed following the Covid-19 pandemic.