Practising Experiential Learning Conference 2021

Date: 01 Apr 2021 ( Add to Calendar )

Time: 8.30am to 6.00pm

Venue: SUSS

Registration closes on 22 March 2021.

Despite David Kolb's formulation of the experiential learning cycle theory a few decades ago, the definitions and principles of experiential learning remain highly contended. This can be observed in many pedagogical methods that similarly eschew "classroom instruction" as the bane of modern education, like "applied learning", "situated learning", and "experience-based learning". Instead of participating in the polemics, this conference attends to the practices of experiential learning. It seeks to bring together practitioners' and students' perceptions of what they consider "experiential learning", and to showcase how individuals and institutions curate and deliver learning opportunities beyond conventional academic settings.

There are four key experiential learning channels that we focus on in this conference: (1) student leadership development; (2) service-learning and community engagement; (3) internships and work attachment; and (4) overseas immersion. Topics under these four channels could include but are not limited to: the design and execution of, institutional frameworks and support for, and impact measurements of experiential programmes and courses.

Time	Programme
Time	Track 1	Track 2	Track 3A	Track 3B	Track 4
8.30am	Registration
9.00am	Local, Overseas and Virtual Internships	Solve Through Lean	LEGO Active Play	JuraSEEK Park – The Race to Clarity and Connection	Experiential Journey in the Built Environment
11.30am	Lunch	Student Poster	Lunch	Lunch	Student Poster
12.15pm	Student Poster	Lunch	Student Poster	Student Poster	Lunch
1.00pm	Youth Leadership Development	Asset-based Experiential Learning for Community Engagement	Designing Inbound Programme	Designing Inbound Programme	Designing Overseas Study Mission
3.30pm	Tea Break
4.00pm	Speech by SUSS President
4.20pm	Panel Session: "Hitting the Wall? Charting New Frontiers in Experiential Learning"
6.00pm	End

What is the value of a local, overseas or virtual internship? What do students stand to gain in each of these? How might these experiences improve one's employability? These questions and more will be explored in this session.

In the first segment, Angels and Devils presents students' stories about their internship experiences and invites you to ponder on these questions. Come with your views, personal anecdotes and word from the grapevine and let’s take a crack at finding answers to these common questions asked by undergraduates thinking of doing their internship.

In the second segment, Professional Exchange invites you to connect with our Career Mentors and share with us your good practices working with students on their internship or planning their careers.

Facilitators:

Dr Priscilla Pang, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Experiential Learning, SUSS
Mr Raymond Lo, Specialist, Career Development Office, SUSS

Presenters:

Overseas Work Attachment (WA) Student, Ms Cindy Yeo, Student Presenter, SUSS
Virtual Internship Programme Student, Mr Terence Lim, Student Presenter, SUSS
Local Work Attachment (WA) Student, Ms Hannah Ee, Student Presenter, SUSS

People are increasingly looking for effective leaders who can lead a team, an organization or a country to navigate this fast changing and complex world. Leadership development is a key programme in higher educational institutions as we prepare our young people for success in life. As we design youth leadership programmes, important questions must be considered: "What makes good leaders?", "How do we develop good leaders" and "How do we know our leadership programmes are effective"? Hear from our presenters the philosophy, institutional framework, evaluation methods and matrixes of their leadership development programmes. Join us in learning, sharing and contributing actively to the discourse of youth leadership development.

Facilitator:

Ms Yeo Lay, Head, Office of Student Life, SUSS

Speakers:

Dr Sze Chun Chau, Director, Student Experiential Learning, NTU
Mrs Zoe Peters, Director, Student Life, SIT
Mr Kitratiprasan Kanaphat, Assistant Director (Programmes), Youth Corps Singapore
Mr Harminder Singh, Deputy Head, Office of Student Life, SUSS
Ms Tan Yock Theng, Programme Manager, Yale-NUS
Ms Petrina Yui-Sing Loh, Senior Manager, Student Organizations & Leadership, Yale-NUS

Good ideas do not automatically translate into good companies. The process of testing, validating and pivoting is critical for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to develop ideas that translate into businesses that add value. Moreover, entrepreneurs cannot do without speaking to customers and getting their buy-in when launching a sustainable venture. Join us in a morning of activities specially curated to provide a glimpse into the skills required in entrepreneurship and experience the sales and customer validation aspects of our entrepreneurship programmes. Hear firsthand experiences of our student participants going through two of our experiential programmes – the Impact Startup Challenge and Alibaba Cloud–SUSS Entrepreneurship Programme and engage in discussions about entrepreneurship and catching the entrepreneurship bug.

Facilitators:

Mr Soh Yong Lun, Venture Builder Trainee, Entrepreneurship Programme, SUSS
Mr Mohamed Faizullah, Trainee, Entrepreneurship Programme, Career Development Office

Presenters:

Ms Symphony Chu, Student , SUSS
Mr Zavier, Founder, Goldmine
Mr Rabbani, Student, SUSS
Ms Amanda Ho, Founder of Combinesell
Mr Ben Koh, Founder of Speac.co

In community engagement – or in school programmes such as Values in Action, Service-Learning, Community Leadership – the needs-based approach, using "community needs" as the starting point for designing social change, is traditionally adopted. This afternoon, we invite you to experience the assets-based approach through an assets mapping activity: How may we discover the assets, resources and strengths in a community for sustainable community engagement? Based on our actual lessons that use self-guided community trails to explore and discover community assets, this assets mapping activity can be used as an introduction to Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) or Appreciative Inquiry. Build the asset-based mindset as you join us on an actual self-guided community trail.

Speaker:

Mr Jason Ng, Specialist, Office of Service Learning & Community Engagement, SUSS

Most of us know and remember the experience of playing with LEGO, but can LEGO bricks be used to facilitate experiential learning? Using LEGO bricks, we will play out scenarios, see how they affect team dynamics and develop a deeper and broader understanding of team-building and leadership skills. As we work through the instructions, challenges and building activities, we learn how activities with LEGO bricks can help in self-discovery, leadership and team development. Come and uncover fun and meaningful experiences through hands-on activities with LEGO. After the activity, participants will also get to understand the design thinking and challenges of the SUSS Experiential Teambuilding programme, mandated for the first year students.

Facilitator:

Ms Chew Wee Ling, Specialist, Office of Student Life, SUSS

Speakers:

Associate Professor Ivy Chia Sook May, Head of Programme, SUSS
Dr Wang Jiun Wen, Senior Lecturer, SUSS

"There are tourists, and there are tourists". There are those who come to see Singapore's skyline, popular tourist attractions, eat satay and chicken rice, buy Merlion souvenirs and take lots of photos. Then, there are those who come to learn and know about Singapore – what makes Singapore a global nation; a multiracial, multireligious and multilingual metropolis; a microcosm of the real world. We invite you to walk through a thoughtful process in designing an inbound (Singapore Visit) programme and to experience, understand, articulate and apply design principles. Join us in a group-based activity to brainstorm, formulate and design an inbound programme based on your group's objective and theme for the programme.

Speaker:

Associate Professor Dennis Lee, Senior General Manager, YMCA

What are the challenges in organising an overseas or local team-building experience for an entire cohort of university freshmen? Since its inaugural run several years ago, the SUSS Experiential Team-Building programme has evolved and continues to grow from lessons learnt and best practices gleaned from experience. The JuraSEEK Park - The Race to Clarity and Connection is a fun, strategy game that can be used to better understand aspirations and life goals in an authentic, engaging and unobtrusive manner. Players in the game take on different Dino Archetypes and explore decisions to claim the life they seek according to what they aspire to. The race to clarity thus begins! Developed for the Experiential Team Building (ETB) Programme in partnership with Bold At Work, JuraSEEK Park enabled facilitators to initiate personal conversations in earlier iterations and later, after multiple trials, is now an activity with the potential for creating deep conversations amongst players. We will also share how we adopt and use board games in our experiential activities to raise student awareness of the community and build strong interpersonal bonds through structured and in-depth conversations.

Facilitator:

Ms Kong Hwee Ling, Specialist, Office of Student Life, SUSS
Ms Clarice Song, Creator, Bold At Work
Ms Hong Rui Yi, Connector, Bold At Work

"There are tourists, and there are tourists". There are those who come to see Singapore's skyline, popular tourist attractions, eat satay and chicken rice, buy Merlion souvenirs and take lots of photos. Then, there are those who come to learn and know about Singapore – what makes Singapore a global nation; a multiracial, multireligious and multilingual metropolis; a microcosm of the real world. We invite you to walk through a thoughtful process in designing an inbound (Singapore Visit) programme and to experience, understand, articulate and apply design principles. Join us in a group-based activity to brainstorm, formulate and design an inbound programme based on your group's objective and theme for the programme.

Speaker:

Associate Professor Dennis Lee, Senior General Manger, YMCA

How do features in the built environment affect usability and safety for everyone regardless of physical ability? How can the built environment cater to different user needs? Hear from experts on the Principles of Universal Design and Barrier-Free Access, and develop a better understanding and appreciation of the need for accessibility. Join us as we look at the existing SUSS infrastructure including wayfinding, vertical circulation and amenities, and take part in hands-on activities that will highlight good practices and areas of improvement as we learn how to create more inclusive environments for a wide range of users.

Speaker:

Ms Judy Wee, Founder and Principal Consultant, LevelField Consultants

How are SUSS's Overseas Experiential Learning (OEL) courses designed? The logic behind the design of these courses synthesises Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle Theory with the findings from the anthropology of craft apprenticeships to establish an "object-theme" premise from which all other components of a course is derived. Experiment with identifying your own object-theme pairs and subsequently design an overseas study mission. The process would help you gain a clearer idea of how courses can remain faithful to the cultivation of practical skills while ensuring that students get to experiment with different approaches towards learning.

Speaker:

Dr Lim Chee Han, Head of Programme, Centre for Experiential Learning, SUSS

The second installation of the Practising Experiential Learning Conference panel follows up on the earlier discussion on virtual experiential learning through shifting our discussion towards experiential learning in a post-COVID world. Despite countries stepping up their vaccination efforts, public life would likely take years before resuming normalcy. In the meantime, how do we continue to offer meaningful experiential learning programmes that takes into consideration limitations on traveling and gathering? How do we go about shifting experiential components online, into the classroom, into smaller groups, and staggered travel itinerary? These are some of the issues to be addressed in this upcoming panel discussion.