OSU is launching a new university-wide experiential learning program for incoming students this fall, providing dozens of opportunities for newcomers to try hands-on activities and get better acquainted with campus life.
As part of the broader new student onboarding process, Learn by Doing is the result of nearly a year of collaboration among employees and units at OSU that already offer experiential learning, like outdoor excursions with the Adventure Leadership Institute and service-learning projects with Community Engagement and Leadership.
Students are currently registering for free, optional half-day experiences to take place the weekend of move-in, Sept. 19-21. They’ll be in groups of eight to 100 students per session, depending on the activity, and all will also participate in a reflective exercise after the activity concludes. OSU-Cascades will run a similar program in Bend, and the Learn by Doing group is developing similar engagement opportunities for online learners.
“We’re looking at how this can help them facilitate connection to the university, connection to their peers and connection to the community of Corvallis,” said Steve Wuhs, associate vice provost for Academic Affairs, which oversees many university-level experiential learning programs. “Our hope is that this also becomes a stimulus for students to think about how learning doesn’t just happen in classroom environments; learning can be through applied learning experiences in all these forms.”
Experiential learning opportunities like undergraduate research and study abroad have long been shown to improve student retention and graduation rates by helping students build relationships with faculty mentors and develop self-efficacy and greater independence, Wuhs said.
Many small liberal arts colleges offer extended orientation camps for incoming students — though, as Wuhs points out, those colleges are usually dealing with classes of 400, rather than the more than 5,000 new students expected at OSU this fall.
Most Learn by Doing activities will be on campus, with a few in the broader Corvallis community, like an art walk downtown, service projects with Corvallis Parks and Recreation and a nature exploration at Peavy Arboretum. One group of students will go out of town to visit the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.
“What we’re trying to do is encourage students to try new things, whether indoors or outdoors. We want to encourage them to take a risk and be curious,” Wuhs said. “There are some successful habits of mind that one can begin to develop through an experience like this.”
Some activities will also provide practical skills students will need during their time at OSU. Stephanie Ramos, associate director of the Office of Undergraduate Research, is co-leading poster-making sessions with Teresa Preddy, coordinator of student multimedia services in the Valley Library’s Media Hub.
Students will learn what resources and expertise are available to them in the Media Hub for when they need to make posters for class or research projects. And they’ll get to dream big about their time at OSU, designing a poster with images and text depicting their desired “roadmap” for college that they can print and display in their rooms.
“It’s like a vision board,” Ramos said. “What is it you want to do in your time at OSU? Maybe you want to do research; you want to graduate; maybe you want your family on there. They can also think about the activities they want to do.”
Wuhs and team are already looking ahead to how the program will work in the future; they’re planning to hold Learn by Doing weekends before new students start in the winter and spring, as well. The program requires a lot of logistical coordination around liability, transportation and health and dietary accommodations. Ecampus staff are also working on how online students will be able to connect with their peers.
After the Sept. 19-21 program, the Learn by Doing team will debrief and then start outreach to other units on campus that may be able to offer additional experiential learning opportunities. In the meantime, Wuhs says, he hopes employees around campus can brainstorm ways they might get involved.
“It’s everybody’s job to welcome students to OSU,” he said. “The idea is that this program is going to help students settle into their new university experience, where they’ll learn something new by doing something new, and hopefully feel a greater sense of belonging.”
