Leading Experiential Learning
Program Overview
Experiential learning is about learning through action, reflection, and connection. It helps learners bridge theory and practice, engage deeply with complex problems, and cultivate the skills and dispositions needed to thrive across many different educational and community settings. This four-course topic offers a structured pathway for graduate students to explore experiential learning in its many forms, whether through classroom practices, community partnerships, research-informed approaches, or land-based education.
Students will examine the philosophical and theoretical traditions of experiential learning, analyze examples of its application across educational contexts, and design meaningful experiences for their own professional practice. A focus on Indigenous perspectives and land-based learning invites participants to consider how experiential approaches are also pathways toward reconciliation and relational ways of knowing.
Graduates of this program will be able to design, implement, and evaluate experiential learning opportunities that are responsive to learners and communities. They will also develop the critical reflection and applied research skills needed to connect experiential approaches to broader educational goals, influence policy, and sustain innovation in their practice.
Program Details
In-person residency and online courses held in both an asynchronous environment (D2L) and a synchronous (real-time) environment (Zoom) which allows instructors to virtually meet and talk with students and experience a live exchange of ideas, hear class presentations and do group work with access to a whiteboard. For additional information regarding online delivery, refer to the eLearn website.
Experiential learning is gaining prominence nationally and internationally as a high-impact practice linked to student engagement, career readiness, and equity in education. In Alberta and across Canada, governments, professional bodies, and post-secondary institutions are embedding experiential learning into strategic plans, with particular attention to Indigenous land-based approaches, work-integrated learning, and research-informed teaching. Scholarly work on experiential learning also emphasizes its role in advancing reconciliation, decolonization, and global citizenship. This program positions Werklund at the leading edge of these movements by offering graduate students a unique, research-informed pathway to strengthen experiential learning in education.
This topic is designed for K-12 and post-secondary educators, curriculum leaders, instructional designers, community educators, and those working in youth-focused organizations. It will appeal to professionals seeking to integrate hands-on, inquiry-driven, and community-engaged approaches into their teaching and leadership. Students will leave with concrete tools and experiences that can be applied immediately in their practice, as well as scholarly grounding to inform long-term innovation in their careers.
A registration package will be sent to new students after they have been admitted. Registration for the summer term will be available in late winter. Fall and Winter registration opens in the spring. Your Graduate Program Administrator will send more information about registration to you.
Fee details are available through the University Calendar. An explanation of fees is available on the Faculty of Graduate Studies' website.
The University of Calgary offers multiple ways to meet the cost of your education. Please refer to the Awards, Scholarships and Bursaries page to learn more about options available to students. For additional information, please contact Student Financial Support.
Please refer to Admission Requirements for Master's Programs.
Program Schedule & Course Descriptions
- Program begins each July (summer term 1)
- Outlines are normally available 1-2 weeks prior to the start of term in D2L
- 3 units per course
Term 1 - Summer
Introduction to Experiential Learning
This course introduces the foundations of experiential learning as an approach to education that emphasizes active engagement, critical reflection, and connection between knowledge and practice. Students will explore the historical and philosophical roots of experiential learning, consider its purposes across different educational contexts, and examine contemporary practices that position learners as active participants in their own growth. Emphasis is on the role of reflection in deepening understanding and on the diverse ways experiential learning supports personal, professional, and civic development.
Key ideas and topics:
- Definitions, history, and purposes of experiential learning
- Theories of experience (e.g., Dewey, Kolb, Freire, Indigenous perspectives)
- Benefits and challenges of experiential learning in formal and informal education
- Reflection as a cornerstone of experiential learning
- The relationship between experiential learning, student engagement, and lifelong learning
Registration info:
TBA
Term 1 - Summer
Land-Based Experiential Learning
This course centers Indigenous approaches to teaching and learning, with a focus on land-based education. Students will learn how land-based practices cultivate holistic learning, strengthen relationships, and advance reconciliation. The course will draw on Indigenous scholarship, knowledge keepers, and community partnerships to guide respectful engagement with land-based pedagogy, including the relational leadership practices and organizational conditions that support this work (e.g., protocol, reciprocity, and accountability).
Key ideas and topics:
- Indigenous worldviews and philosophies of learning
- Land-based learning as pedagogy and practice
- Storytelling, ceremony, and knowledge-keeper guided learning
- Decolonization, Indigenization, and reconciliation in education
- Ethical engagement with communities and the land
- Enabling conditions for land-based work: relational leadership, protocol, and partnership roles
Registration info:
TBA
Term 2 - Fall
Leadership for Experiential Learning
Building on foundational knowledge, this course engages students in applying experiential learning theory to practice and in leading experiential initiatives in their own contexts. Students will analyze case studies across sectors, develop and iteratively test EL designs, and examine how leadership approaches (e.g., instructional, distributed, adaptive) enable implementation, assessment, and improvement. Attention is given to equity, ethics, partnership-building, resource stewardship, and evidence-informed decision-making that leaders navigate when integrating experiential approaches into curriculum and organizational practice.
Key ideas and topics:
- Designing, piloting, and refining experiential learning in diverse settings
- Leadership for EL: instructional/distributed/adaptive leadership; change theory and systems thinking
- Assessment strategies aligned with experiential learning outcomes and program goals
- Case studies in schools, higher education, and community organizations
- Ethical, equity, risk, and duty-of-care considerations in EL implementation
- Partnership development and governance (schools–community–industry), scaling and sustainability
Registration info:
TBA
Term 3 - Winter
Capstone in Experiential Learning
This capstone course provides students with the opportunity to integrate, apply, and extend their learning from the previous courses. Students will design and carry out a project that connects experiential learning theory, practice, and land-based approaches to a context relevant to their professional or scholarly interests. Through collaborative inquiry, critical reflection, and applied research, students will make meaningful connections between experiential learning and broader educational policy and practice, including stakeholder engagement and leadership considerations for implementation and sustainability.
Key ideas and topic
- Integration of theory, practice, and land-based approaches
- Designing and implementing an applied experiential learning project
- Critical reflection and synthesis of learning across the program
- Connecting experiential learning to educational policy and practice
- Stakeholder engagement, leadership implications, and sustainability planning
- Knowledge mobilization and dissemination of project outcomes
Registration info:
TBA
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