About The Experiential Education and Engagement Center
The Experiential Education and Engagement Center (EEEC) was established in 2019 by a U.S. Department of Education Title III grant. Our goals are to enhance student success through experiential education opportunities such as service-learning, internships, study abroad experiences, domestic travel experiences, and undergraduate research. In addition, the grant afforded us the opportunity to expand the peer mentor program established in AUM’s UNIV first-year seminar.
What do we do?
- The EEEC acts as a communications hub that helps link students with community and campus partners offering experiential learning experiences. Its goal is also to help our partners collaborate on programs and events that will engage students and enhance their campus experience.
- An additional component of the EEEC is our Peer Mentor Program. This program recruits and hires undergraduate Warhawk leaders who are sophomores and above that want to help their fellow students by sharing their insights and advice. The EEEC staff offers training for peer mentors that will help them develop key leadership skills. These skills are transferable to future work opportunities.
- The EEEC is here to partner with faculty and staff to improve AUM student success. We do this by offering professional development that helps faculty incorporate experiential education methods in their courses. We are available to consult with individual faculty and staff who want to have a better
- Understanding of experiential education. Additionally, we offer brainstorming sessions that can inspire and support faculty as they pilot new ways to integrate experiential learning into their curricula.
What is Experiential Education?
Experiential learning is an approach to education that emphasizes practical, hands-on experiences that allow students to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world situations.
Course-based and non-course-based experiential education opportunities at AUM include:
- Community Engagement (CE): The purpose of community engagement is the partnership of AUM knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching, and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good.
- Field Experiences (FE): FE are learning activities completed outside the classroom that correlate to and supplement the content taught in academic coursework.
- Internships: Internships are hands-on opportunities to learn practical skills in the work environment. These work-based opportunities allow students to put theory into practice and discover how the two work together.
- Peer Mentorship (PM): PM is an experiential learning approach where a student receives guidance, direction, and support of an upperclassman with the main purpose of assisting the student towards academic success and social, personal, emotional, and professional growth and development.
- Research: A faculty-directed investigation or creative inquiry conducted by students that seek to make a scholarly contribution to a discipline.
- Service-Learning (SL): Service-Learning entails applying lessons learned in the classroom while serving the community or addressing societal needs.
- Study Abroad: Study Abroad serves AUM students by providing substantial academic-based, immersive experiences abroad. Our advising, programming, scholarships, and service assist students to become informed and intercultural citizens in the global community.
Why participate?
Experiential learning provides many benefits for students, including improved learning outcomes, career preparation, personal growth, and enhanced engagement. Additionally, students who participate have much higher retention, persistence, and graduation rates and are more likely to be hired in their field upon graduation.