Experiential Learning

Education takes place outside the classroom as well as during course modules. With the Experiential Learning Requirement, Honors students can take their passion and commitment to the wider global, national and local community. A range of courses can be used to fulfill the Experiential Learning requirement, tailored to each students' major and interests. Some programs that apply are service learning courses, internships, upper-level research, clinicals, student teaching, and performance courses. Off-campus programs, such as study abroad or the Washington Internhip, can also be applied to the Experiential Learning component. 

The Experiential Learning requirement helps students integrate their Honors commitment to service with their major and minor requirements. The courses listed below can be used to fulfill the requirement. Courses with the Service Learning attribute are automatically counted towards the Honors Experiential Learning requirement, as are the Student Teaching Semester, Study Abroad, and the Washington Internship. Other credit-bearing internships, advanced fieldwork, performance, and advanced research courses, as listed below, can also be applied to the Experiential Learning requirement. A graduate course may be substituted with the permission of the Honors Director.

Students may consult their preceptor and the Honors Director for assistance in choosing Experiential Learning courses best suited to their academic goals and interests.

List of Experiential Learning Courses

Honors Co-Curricular Requirements

Honors students strive to make the world a better place in all sorts of ways. They tutor in math, writing skills, and financial literacy. They support blood drives and organize basketball clinics for young people with disabilities. They join with other civic-minded students in on-campus organizations as well as in their own communities.

What, exactly, are the Honors Co-Curricular Requirements? 

The Honors Service Requirement consists of:

• 10 hours of volunteer activities
• 2 dialogue or reflection sessions
• 2 additional Honors events

Who participates?

NEW STUDENTS must complete the Honors Service Requirement in their first semester in the Honors Program.

CONTINUING STUDENTS must complete the Honors Service Requirement for at least one semester within an academic year.

Students who have spent a certain number of semesters in the Honors Program are exempt from the Honors Service Requirement. Students entering as freshmen are exempt after 8 semesters; students entering as sophomores are exempt after 6 semesters; students entering as juniors are exempt after 4 semesters.

Useful Co-Curricular Requirement Contacts:

E-Board Student Director,  Heather McCarthy (mccartyh@go.stockton.edu) 

E-Board Student Director of Service, Brooke Peterson (peter125@go.stockton.edu)

Office of Service Learning, F-101J through F101Q

Circle K Club, Contact Brian Pluchino, 609-652-4961

Center for Community Engagement & Service-Learning, F-211

Student Success Scholars Program Mentor program, Contact Tomas Itaas, F-109A

Community Service, Office of Student Development

Many Stockton clubs lead and participate in service projects. For a full listing of Stockton clubs and activities, click here. 

Experiential Learning, as defined by the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC):

• Curricula typically emphasize exploration and/or discovery rather than acquisition of specific knowledge sets; a focus on hands-on, usually supervised, practical engagement with usable outcomes can also occur.
• Programs focus on student-driven learning projects facilitated by faculty who provide no necessary, single conclusion to be drawn by all or many students. Programs often include international experience and active learning.
• The process often involves continuous reflective writing and oral presentation as the students articulate their discoveries and document their personal growth; this process may apply to all other modes described here.

Service Learning and Leadership, as defined by the NCHC:

• The major emphasis is community engagement: often a single project or a series of collaborative projects that address real-world problems and through which students acquire practical experience and skills that lead to engaged citizenship. Some opportunities are offered for credit, some not.
• Curricula are frequently decentralized or selected from a menu of departmental honors courses. Students may also earn credit for philanthropic or humanitarian service off campus.  

Read more about Honors Modes of Education.