Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the delivery of higher education around the world. Many post-secondary schools pivoted from delivering in-person education to online teaching modalities. Yet, what were the experiences for educators in experiential learning?
The capacity to identify and pivot experiential learning placements for students largely depended on the nature of the experiential learning placement, and whether it was embedded within compulsory training in professional programs such as Nursing, Education, etc. Educators and administrators were required to adapt to the changing needs of their community partners while still providing students with high-quality experiential learning opportunities. In this presentation, we will share insights from several faculty and students at the University of Ottawa, Canada on how they adapted to the transition to online education, particularly for experiential learning components. Our discussion will focus on the main challenges identified and the various strategies implemented to mitigate challenges to fulfilling compulsory in-person experiential learning practicum placements. In our conclusion, we discuss recommendations moving forward as it relates to experiential learning during COVID-19. 

Keywords:

experiential learning, students, faculty, pandemic, challenges