Multicultural Experiential Learning Toolkit: What is Experiential Learning?

What is experiential learning?

Simply put, it is learning outside of the classroom through volunteer partnerships, internships, service, field work, and various other opportunities.

What do we mean by multicultural experiential learning?

This is experiential learning geared toward interaction with, awareness of, understanding, and appreciation for populations from diverse social backgrounds.

“…at the heart of a curriculum that is meaningfully multicultural lie principles of equity and social justice- purposeful attention to issues like racism, homophobia, sexism, and economic inequality.”

Gorski, Paul and Katy Swallwell. “Equity Literacy for All.” Educational Leadership, March 2015

http://edchange.org/publications/Equity-Literacy-for-All.pdf

"In ‘Equity Literacy for All’, Paul C. Gorski and Katy Swalwell outline a scenario: an African-American student at a predominantly White school with an acclaimed Multicultural Curriculum Initiative  discusses their feelings of invisibility at their school and the fact that racism is still prevalent there despite the supposed initiative. Gorski and Swalwell conclude that it isn’t the fact that schools aren’t enacting multicultural programming or diversity initiatives, but rather that these various attempts barely scratch at the surface and do not actually actively address equity or intersectionality. So, then, the purpose of this tool kit must be to give instructors a concise, basic foundation for reference from which they can build experiences for their students that truly and fully address these issues."  

from: Integrating Multicultural Experiential Learning, J. Hardesty

Questions about multicultural experiential learning? Please contact the following faculty:

Jessi Hardesty: jhardesty@carrollcc.edu, (410) 386-8256

Becki Maurio: rmaurio@carrollcc.edu, (410) 386-8641

Michelle Parke: mparke@carrollcc.edu, (410) 386-8129