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Phase IV: Final Curricular Proposals from the CEP

EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION

Experiential education involves "learning by doing"and integrating that learning into regular academic coursework. Although experiential education already occurs within traditional classes, e.g., in laboratories, these proposals focus on bringing supervised experience outside of the classroom to bear on academic coursework, and bringing the academic learning to bear on those arenas, under the supervision and guidance of the professor. There are two parts to the proposal, which will be voted on separately: I) Experiential education in the context of regular semester courses taught by Williams faculty members, and II) a Williams in New York program.

1. EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION IN THE CONTEXT OF WILLIAMS COURSES
   
   Experiential education in the context of courses taught by Williams faculty members and involving fieldwork of various kinds can enhance the learning of students. We propose that this be encouraged in the curriculum where appropriate, and supported by a central coordinator for experiential education.
   
   "Experiential education" refers broadly to learning by experience, i.e., learning by doing. "Experiential" includes traditional laboratories and other in-class exercises, as well as fieldwork outside of the classroom. In this proposal we are concerned with experiential education outside the classroom, defined as learning gained via field research, sustained work on special field projects, as well as fieldwork placements with community organizations.
   
   Please note well: Throughout this proposal, when we refer to experiential education outside the classroom we are referring to such experiences as an addition to, and as an integral part of, a regular Williams course. That is, such courses would still meet for three hours a week, with the same kinds of academic reading, discussion, lecture, exams or papers as other courses. In addition, the students would be engaged in fieldwork of some kind outside of the classroom that would enhance their learning and help meet the pedagogical goals of the instructor. This proposal does not refer to community service and does not suggest any kind of academic credit for community service.
   
   The current situation of experiential learning within the Williams curriculum
   Experiential education outside of the classroom, a recent popular curricular innovation in American higher education, has been a small, relatively quiet, but successful part of the Williams curriculum for quite a while. Many disciplines at Williams include courses that already incorporate fieldwork of some kind, including those in Geosciences, Biology, Political Science, Anthropology, Sociology, and Environmental Studies. A few other courses incorporate sustained work in agencies or organizations as part of the course requirements. For example, as part of a regular semester seminar course in Clinical and Community Psychology which has been taught for 16 years, each student does a fieldwork placement for 6 hours/week at a local mental health or social service agency. The field work experience is explicitly tied to, and analyzed in the context of, traditional coursework. Thus readings on the history and policies of deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill are informed, critiqued, and analyzed in light of students' experiences on the inpatient psychiatric unit of a local hospital, or at a social and vocational rehabilitation program for people with chronic schizophrenia. In the Women's and Gender Studies "Practicing Feminism" course, which will run for the third time next year, coursework on history and modes of activism (protest, political organization, unions, etc.) is integrated with fieldwork in agencies such as the Battered Women's shelter, which address women's issues and use various forms of activism to address the root causes of problems. Moreover, Williams faculty members themselves have had some successful experiences with experiential education as students; for example, spending a semester studying Soviet society, politics, and culture and then spending time with classmates and a professor in the former Soviet Union, meeting and talking with key figures in Soviet politics and culture.
   
   The Proposal
   Such courses, by providing students with opportunities to encounter, firsthand, relevant nonacademic settings, and by challenging them to bring those experiences to bear on the issues that they read and study about in the course, require the students to think critically. Students can learn to question assumptions in the academic literature and flag them as problematic by virtue of their experience; they can also learn that books and journal articles hold important and useful information that can help them analyze and solve problems in the world outside academia. Students who have taken courses with a field- work component report that they learn a tremendous amount, and the courses are often overenrolled. Students also express the wish that more courses with a fieldwork component be added to the curriculum. For certain topics and subject areas (although clearly not all courses or even most courses), this may be the best way to teach and learn, and this proposal seeks to encourage and support the growth of experiential education within such courses.
   
   Seeking out, developing, and maintaining high quality fieldwork placement opportunities can be time-consuming and daunting to faculty unfamiliar with such tasks or unfamiliar with the local communities. In addition, some central coordination would be useful. It would be helpful to have a person knowledgeable about experiential education to serve as a consultant to faculty who are interested in introducing this into their courses. Therefore, we recommend the establishment of a position for a Coordinator/Facilitator of Experiential Education. The coordinator would consult and assist as described above, but the professor would retain primary responsibility for the course, for supervising the students' work, and for engaging the students in reflective thinking about the field experience as one of the course requirements.
   
   In sum,
   What IS proposed by this initiative:
   • That some regular Williams semester courses can be enhanced by the addition of a fieldwork component outside of the classroom
   • That such fieldwork be closely supervised and directed by the professor of the course
   • That the experiential education and the classroom education be integrally related to each other
   • That a Coordinator/Facilitator position for supporting experiential learning and the development of fieldwork opportunities be established
   • That the regular procedures for approval of new courses by the CEP and the faculty as a whole be followed with these new or substantially modified courses
   
   
   What is NOT proposed by this initiative:
   • Academic credit for extracurricular community service or summer internships
   • Academic credit for experiences in which students do community service and meet with a professor simply to discuss that service
   • A "service learning" program. Service learning makes some assumptions that would rule out certain kinds of experiential education. Specifically, service learning focuses on helping other people, agencies, or causes, with the assumption that in doing so, students will learn about others and themselves. Experiential learning is a broader concept, and does not necessarily involve service to others, although it may. For example, students in an environmental studies course might work with a nonprofit group studying the impact of the proposed Greylock Glen project. Their field work may not be helpful to the agency though it would enhance the students' education. Students in a developmental psychology course on adolescence might work with a community task force researching and evaluating alternative programs for preventing school violence; again this would enhance the students' education and it may also be of use to the agency. The point is that experiential education as defined in this proposal does not start, and is not designed around, the focal point of service.
   
   
   Answers to some commonly asked questions about this proposal:
   
   Q: Would courses that include experiential education be required, either of students or of departments?
   
   A: No. The choice to offer a course including an experiential education component would be entirely at the discretion of each professor, depending on the pedagogical goals of the course. The choice to take such a course, likewise, would be the studentıs choice, as such courses typically require a heavy commitment of time and energy.
   
   Q: Is this a revival of the late Professor Robert Gaudino's "Williams at Home" program?
   
   A: No, it is significantly different. In Gaudino's program, students moved off campus to areas of the US that were quite new to them, e.g., a student from suburban New York might go to rural West Virginia. Students were challenged to encounter worlds other than their own that would create "uncomfortable learning" and cause them to question their own assumptions. In contrast, in this proposal, the experiential learning would take place in the local area, while students are in the course and can be guided by the professor to consider the experiential learning in the context of the academic learning and vice versa. While the experiential learning might sometimes prove uncomfortable, that is not a requirement of experiential learning as proposed.
   
   Q: Could the Winter Study period be utilized for experiential education, and could this be tied to regular semester courses?
   
   A: Yes. In addition to the model in which students do fieldwork during the semester, there is also potential for Winter Study experiences to be designed as extensions of regular courses, as is currently the case in several successful courses in Geosciences (see Archive 3.1 "Marriage of Tutorials and Winter Study Projects."). This model might work especially well for experiences that require distant travel or a significant time commitment on the part of the student. The material from the semester course would be fully integrated with field work or some other kind of experiential education during Winter Study, with both under the supervision of the instructor.
   
   Q: How would students know which courses included opportunities for experiential education?
   
   A: Courses including experiential education would be regular department or program courses, and would be listed in those places in the course catalogue. They would also be cross-listed in a separate section of the catalogue for Experiential Education, in order to highlight the presence of experiential education in the curriculum and to help students locate such courses.
   
   
2. EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION OUTSIDE THE LOCAL COMMUNITY: WILLIAMS IN NEW YORK
   
   The CEP proposes a "Williams in New York" program. Student participants would spend a maximum of one semester in New York City, doing the equivalent of four courses of academic work including a significant (approximately 15 hours per week) period of related field work. The program would involve approximately 20 students per semester, with each studying in one of two tracks. The same two tracks would be offered for a full academic year. Possible tracks include urban social issues, culture, education, environmental issues, and government/civic affairs. The Williams in New York program would be administered by two Williams faculty resident co-directors.
   
   Rationale and brief overview
   Williamstown is a wonderful place for a college. At times, however, for certain types of teaching and learning, its geographical location presents distinct limitations. These limitations could be addressed in part by the establishment of a "Williams in New York" program. For example, the study of urban history, art and art history, sociology, economics, urban environmental studies, politics, and media could be greatly enhanced by creative use of the resources for field work that can be found in a city like New York.
   
   The general outline of a Williams in New York program is provided below. The program would be similar to the Oxford and Mystic programs in certain ways, but it would also have some important differences. Like Mystic, it would be a "study away" educational opportunity administered by Williams (although unlike the Mystic program, only Williams students would be admitted), and it would integrate fieldwork with academic classroom work. It would retain the tutorial mode of instruction of the Oxford program.
   
   In brief, the curricular thrust of the program would be an intense, integrated academic and fieldwork experience. Students would spend one semester in the program, doing the equivalent of four courses of academic work, including a significant (at least 15 hours a week) related fieldwork placement. The coursework would be a double tutorial (similar to the current tutorial format, except that students do papers and defend them every week, and the course meets for two hours rather than one). In addition, each student would take a weekly seminar at the Williams in New York center, with one of the two co-directors. Each co-director would teach a seminar for all of the students in one track, and the seminar would culminate in a major research paper integrating the academic work and the fieldwork. The field work sites would be arranged and closely supervised by the resident co-directors. This would allow the co-directors, who would also be teaching the seminars, to engage students in thoughtful reflection on their field work as part of the seminar, and to help them to do the same with the field work and the tutorial work. The seminar and the field work together would count as the equivalent of two courses.
   
   Please find more details below as illustrations. Obviously, highly specific information on what tracks would be offered in the first few years, the exact field work sites, and the faculty teaching the tutorials would be worked out during the implementation phase if this program were to be adopted.
   
   Curriculum of the Williams in New York program
   There will be two resident co-directors, both members of the Williams faculty. Each academic year, the curriculum of the Williams in New York program will offer two tracks, one in the humanities and one in the social sciences. Students with principal interests in Division III or interdisciplinary interests that include the natural sciences (e.g., Environmental Studies) could participate in this program, even if specific tracks devoted to scientific issues are not often incorporated into the program.
   
   There will be approximately twenty Williams students in the program, ten in each track. Each track will consist of the following requirements:
   
   
   • A double tutorial in one subject taught by professors from colleges and universities in New York City. All professors teaching tutorials will be recruited and vetted by the College. They will be provided with consultation and information about the pedagogy of tutorials, as are Williams faculty who teach tutorials for the first time. Tutorial meetings would last two hours per week with students presenting their own work each week and critiquing their partner's work each week. Finding the right faculty to supervise the tutorials is an important issue but seems quite possible. Indeed, there are a great many former Williams professors currently working in New York City who will be excellent starting points to locate proper faculty for the tutorials.
   • Fifteen hours per week of supervised field work in an organization directly related to one's tutorial. The fieldwork would be integrated with the seminar work throughout the semester. Students will keep notes on their field experiences to be handed to their seminar director bi-weekly. The fieldwork sites will be developed by the program co-directors, who will also assume responsibility for evaluating the quality of the learning experience at that internship site from year to year and maintaining close relationships with the agency staff overseeing the field work.
   • A regular seminar on a topic directly related to one of the two major themes of tutorials and internships, directed by one of the Williams faculty co-directors. The seminar will address a topic broad enough to allow students in the track to integrate their ongoing field experiences within the framework of an academic focus on the topic at hand. Each student will write a 20-25 page paper integrating their field experience and their academic experience during the semester.
   
   
   Sample curricular combinations
   Please find below some hypothetical examples of the kinds of courses and field work that might be possible in a Williams in New York program. They are certainly not inclusive of all possibilities but rather are meant to be illustrative of the kind of integrated coursework and fieldwork that are envisioned in this proposal. The CEP would like to thank Professor Robert Jackall for help in envisioning these illustrations.
   
   Year 1
   • Humanities Track: Art History
     1. A double tutorial on some period of art history
     2. Fieldwork at: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Asia Society, the Jewish Museum, or the Frick Collection
     3. Seminar on a theoretical problem in art history that bridges students' period interests
   • Social Science Track: Criminal Justice
     1. A double tutorial on one occupational group in the criminal justice system: police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges
     2. Fieldwork at: the New York City Police Department, the District Attorney of New York, the New York State Supreme Court, selected defense attorneys, or the New York Legal Aid Society
     3. Seminar on the criminal justice system
   
   
   Year 2
   • Humanities Track: Art History
     1. A double tutorial on some period of art history
     2. Fieldwork at: the Metropolitan Museum, the Cloisters, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Asia Society, the Jewish Museum or the Frick Collection
     3. Seminar on a theoretical problem in art history that bridges students' period interests
   • Social Science Track: Mass Media
     1. Double tutorial on the history and structure of one major mass medium: print, broadcast, or film
     2. Fieldwork at: New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Sixty Minutes, Wall Street Journal, New York Observer, Museum of Broadcasting, Museum of the Moving Image, or the film department of the Museum of Modern Art
     3. Seminar on mass media and society
   
   
   Year 3
   • Humanities Track: Performing Arts
     1. Double tutorial on the history and/or the repertoire of opera, ballet, or some genre of music or theatre
     2. Fieldwork at: the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet, the New York City Philharmonic, on or off Broadway theatres
     3. Seminar on theories of performance
   • Social Science Track: Mass Media
     1. Double tutorial on the history and structure of one major mass medium: print, broadcast, or film
     2. Field work at: New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek, Sixty Minutes, Wall Street Journal, New York Observer, Museum of Broadcasting, Museum of the Moving Image, or the film department of the Museum of Modern Art
     3. Seminar on mass media and mass society
   
   
   Year 4
   • Humanities Track: Performing Arts
     1. Double tutorial on the history and/or the repertoire of opera, ballet, or some genre of music or theatre
     2. Fieldwork at: the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the American Ballet, the New York City Philharmonic, on or off Broadway theatres
     3. Seminar on the theories of performance
   • Social Science Track: Metropolitan Government & Public Policy
     1. Double tutorial on the history and contemporary faces of major problems in the metropolis: transportation, water supply, sewage safety, garbage disposal, disease control
     2. Fieldwork at: Metropolitan Transit Authority, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, New York State Environmental Conservation Bureau, New York City Mayor's Office, Metropolitan Institute, New York City Department of Public Health
     3. Seminar on public policy

     Or, another illustrative track:

   • Social Science Track: Education
     1. Double tutorial on the history and contemporary issues facing public elementary and secondary education in New York City
     2. Fieldwork at: the New York City Board of Education, the Frederick Douglas Academy, Roosevelt High School, Saint Aloysious School
     3. Seminar on the crisis of urban public education
   
   
   Note: One can also imagine creative combinations within each track, say, combining field work in art history and performing arts, or criminal justice and metropolitan policy-making or mass media, that would require a broader seminar topic of each co-director, but that might provide a greater synergy of student experiences, making for more interdisciplinary interactions.
   
   Physical location and administration
   The Williams in New York program would be located in a building that would house the participating students and the two resident co-directors and provide office space and a seminar room. The co-directors would be Williams faculty who would oversee the administrative, academic and fieldwork aspects of the program. They would each serve two year terms, and the terms would be staggered to permit continuity.
   
   The Williams in New York program might also be a site for more limited activities within regular courses (e.g., weekend field trips, overnight stay while collecting data for a thesis or field project, etc.) This would be limited to academic activities and would require the approval of the co-directors. Also, regular Williams faculty might be invited to give occasional lectures relating to the tracks for the semester. Both of the above would engender a strong connection to Williams, reinforcing the goal of truly having a Williams in New York program, rather than a disconnected "study-away" program.
   
   Overall, this program has the potential to be a highly valuable, invigorating learning experience for students. It would expand the diversity of the curriculum, and the fact that tracks would rotate would maximize that feature. It would not, and could not, serve the interests and needs of every student or every subject area, but its existence in the curriculum would provide some truly unique opportunities which are not available on campus.
   
   Answers to some commonly asked questions about this proposal:
   
   Q: Why New York and not Washington, DC?
   
   A: New York City is especially attractive as a location for a number of reasons. It is within easy driving distance from campus and is accessible by public transportation. It is close enough to permit other faculty and students not involved in the program to use the center as a base for occasional field trips, field research, etc. The location would also make it possible for faculty teaching in Williamstown to deliver occasional lectures as part of the weekly seminars, if needed. New York is culturally and ethnically diverse, and it has a wide range of rich activity in the arts, media, politics, social service, public health, and education. There are many alumni in New York [In fact, the CEP just learned that the alumni association there is called "Williams in New York," and we apologize for any confusion that our (current) title for this proposal might create.] who are active in these arenas, and who could be consulted during the development of internship opportunities. It seems to offer everything that the next most popular venue, Washington DC, does, except a number of federal government agencies.

   Q: Would the faculty resident co-directors have "deanly" as well as academic responsibilities?
   
   A: Yes, they would be live-in or resident co-directors, as in Oxford, and would need to be prepared to deal with the same kind of student life issues (e.g. safety, honor and discipline) as the Oxford program director does. It would be a significant responsibility.
   
   Q: Is the program directed at students in a particular year?
   
   A: Yes. The program would require a good deal of personal and academic maturity and we believe it would be most beneficial to juniors.
   
   Q: Why not have a Williams in New York program as another traditional "study away" program, without the connection between field work and scholarly work?
   
   A: There are other, existing ways to just "study in New York" for a semester. On the other hand, the program as proposed is unique. With a rigorous, required fieldwork component, the Williams in New York program could be a highly distinctive program, one that provides an integrated program of traditional scholarship combined with ongoing fieldwork in related areas. Such a combination of traditional research, writing, contemplation, and action can best help students internalize the values of a liberal arts education, shaping critical reflective habits of mind that they will carry with them for their lifetimes into the world.

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