What is Applied Learning?
Applied learning is a model that lets students engage in hands on, real world, or otherwise practical experiences and helps them get more out of those experiences as well. Students in an Applied Learning experience might, for example, use iPads to perform accurate geological surveying in the field, or they might travel abroad to teach high school students in Belize. Studying abroad, working with nonprofits in the community, learning newly developed lab techniques, and even archival research can all be applied learning experiences and they can all help students transform the theories they know into the skills they need.
About the Applied Learning Student Success Gallery website
The purpose of this gallery is to highlight exemplary applied learning projects. The website was designed to connect the various partners who participate in and support applied learning at UNCW, and to serve as a selective archive and gallery of applied learning examples. It can be used to identify types of projects that have been done, or ideas for future projects. The site can be browsed by student, major, instructor/mentor, type of applied learning, and funding source. It is also fully searchable by keyword allowing you to dig deeper into submissions. Students can upload presentations, images, PDFs and other materials created as part of their experience. It was created through a partnership between Randall Library, undergraduate studies, and the career center.
Why does UNCW focus on applied learning experiences?
Because of our faculty and staff’s commitment to our students, UNCW has a long history of excellence in areas of applied learning such as service learning, internships, study abroad, and faculty-mentored undergraduate research. We are so committed to it because there is strong evidence that correlates multiple, high-impact applied learning experiences with continued academic success (depth of knowledge, graduation rates, and degree efficiency) as well as a more successful transition to the next phase of the student’s life, whether it be graduate work or the workplace. Learn more about applied learning.
To find out how you can contribute to, or be a part of applied learning at UNCW, please contact us.
