Experiential Learning Design

Updated on May 23, 2025

Experiential learning (sometimes called “situational learning”) encourages students to apply their knowledge in real-world situations. Studies have shown that experiential learning fosters deeper understanding, critical thinking, project management and communication skills. It enables students to understand the complexity of the world and how it relates to lessons learned in the classroom.

Experiential learning assignments can range from the simple activities such as case studies and group debates to complex internships and field trips. The complexity of the assignments depends on the course.

Experiential learning is an important pedagogical tool to use when designing AI-resilient assignments. Because students are asked to apply knowledge gleaned from real-world situations, they cannot easily find answers via AI. Instead, they must draw upon their individual thoughts and experiences, making reference to classroom activities, personal reflection, and knowledge gained from engaging in real-world activities.

Experiential learning must be carefully scaffolded. This means the experiences themselves must be well structured, with clear and concise instructions, and the lessons broadened and reinforced through reflection, critical analysis, and wider application.

What Approaches to Experiential Learning Exist?

Experiential learning has three main approaches:

Problem-based learning: Students are presented with increasingly complex problems to solve. This approach works best when students are given adequate foundational knowledge to solve the problems.

Case-based learning: Students are asked to analyze a case, usually by working in groups. The case should tell a story, focus on a pertinent issue, elicit opinion and decisions through its relevance to reader experience, and contain lessons that can be generally applied.

Project-based learning: Akin to case-based learning, but the activities are more involved. The project should be guided by a driving question which links back to what students should learn. There should be ample time for feedback and revision, and the end product should be something that could be publicly presented.

Whatever approach you decide to employ, experiential learning projects should contain the following elements*:

Concrete Experience: This is the heart of the assignment. It’s what you’ve asked students to go out and do.
New Perspectives: If possible, provide opportunities for students to experience multiple perspectives. This could entail having them work in groups after completing an assignment.
Reflective Observation: Every experiential assignment should ask, at some point, that students reflect on what they’ve experienced, identifying gaps in knowledge, new observations and thoughts.
Abstract Conceptualization: In this part of the assignment, students are asked to connect what they learned to larger trends, phenomena, or other abstract concepts. This allows students to deepen and add complexity to the lessons they learned during the experience of the project.
Future Application: This final part of an experiential assignment asks students to envision how they might apply their knowledge and/or lessons learned to future applications.

Can Your Course Content Benefit from Experiential Learning?

To determine if your course content could benefit from an experiential learning assignment, the University of Oregon* offers some helpful questions:

What is the authentic learning needed?
What concrete experience provides students with access to that learning?
How will students carry that concrete experience through the cycle of experiential learning?
How will you provide the opportunity for concrete experiences for remote learners in a way that fosters individual learning and contributes to large scale learning in the course?

How Can You Make the Most of Experiential Learning Online?

Both in-person and online courses can benefit from experiential learning assessments. Indeed, for certain kinds of experiential learning, such as internships, an online supplement is essential. What might this look like?

An experiential assessment requires that students go out in the world, and so any online component would enable the reflection and abstract conceptualization that happens afterward. An online discussion is perhaps the simplest way for students to reflect and share their experiences, especially if you ask students to post images and videos that can be analyzed during the in-person portion of the course.

More formal assignments also lend themselves to the experiential assessment. Students could be asked to compose a formal reflection in which they analyze how their experience ties into larger trends and phenomena. Or, for a more creative assignment, they could create a podcast, video, or other means of sharing the lessons gleaned from their experience with a larger, more general audience.

However instructors design the reflective portion of the experiential assignment, they should consider using the 5 Question model.* This model entails asking students to consider the following questions:

Did you notice?
Why did that happen?
Does that happen in life?
Why does that happen?
How can you use that?

You do not have to use this exact phrasing of the questions. But some sense of their original intention should be present. They can help students critically reflect on their experience, and develop ways to apply that experience to their own situations. Such questions can guide conversations before, during, and after the experiential assessment, and they can be asked during a Canvas discussion, or in an in-person or virtual conversation.

Finally, feedback is essential for an experiential assessment. Continuous feedback from instructors and peers assists with learning, especially when that feedback helps students make connections between what they experienced and their professional and academic goals.

Experiential Learning Scenarios Featuring Online Supplements

The table below shows the different kinds of assignments that lend themselves to experiential learning.

Additional Examples

Case Studies

Students examine a case of a business success or failure, and then abstract from the case principles that could be applied in general. This can take place in a Canvas discussion, with settings set to disallow students from seeing posts before making their contribution. Or students can be formed into groups, and each group tasked with answering questions (or give a presentation) related to the case. Groups then post their responses to a Canvas discussion, and other groups respond and ask questions.
Public health students examine a case detailing the outbreak of a pandemic. They are tasked with identifying Patient Zero. From this exercise they are better able to develop public health measures to mitigate the effects of such a pandemic. They can be formed into groups, and each group posts their answer. Each group can then question the other groups’ rationale.

Interviews

Pre-med students are asked to interview internists. They share the answers in a Canvas discussion, and this discussion then feeds into a larger class discussion.

Field Trips and “Missions”

Zoology students are asked to go to the zoo to observe animals. They then share what they observed in a Canvas discussion. This online discussion can then feed into the in-class discussion.
Climate science students are asked to reflect on how pedestrian friendly their city is. They are assigned to observe an intersection, noting how bike friendly the roads are, and how the car traffic flows. They make note of their observations and take photos, which they post online in a Canvas discussion. The subject of these posts can jumpstart the in-person discussion.

Simulation

Agriculture students are asked to role play a congressional hearing on the Farm Bill. They are split into groups representing various interest groups and are asked to argue their group’s viewpoint. A separate set of students are tasked with developing questions to ask during the simulation. The first group posts their viewpoints online, ahead of the in-class simulation. After the in-class simulation, the class is then asked to reflect on the simulation.
Cybersecurity students are asked to engage in a hacking simulation. They share their experience in a Canvas discussion, and then join the instructor in a Zoom discussion.

Debate

Climate change students are asked to debate on the merits of solar geoengineering. Each group, which is assigned a position, must write opening statement. These opening statements are shared ahead of the in-class debate in a Canvas discussion. Sharing the opening statements ahead of time lets students become familiar with the positions so the in-class debate can be more natural and vigorous.

Games

Finance students compete in virtual stock trading. They share the results of their trades in an ongoing online discussion. The person who makes the most money (theoretically) at the end of the week wins.