Experiential Learning
The Learning and Education in Action program is all about embracing the ways people learn beyond traditional classrooms; experiential learning is what you will be prepared to facilitate, so we place experiential learning at the heart of your studies.
The Learning and Education in Action (LEiA) program is grounded in a simple but powerful belief: people learn everywhere. Because this program prepares students to facilitate experiential learning beyond traditional classrooms, we place experiential learning at the heart of your studies.
From your earliest coursework through your senior year, you will apprentice alongside experienced educators in community-based settings across the region. Placements may include youth-serving organizations, arts and cultural institutions, community justice initiatives, adult education programs, youth media spaces, and innovative learning hubs such as FabNewport and YouthPride.
In these spaces, you will do more than observe. LEiA students actively support program design, facilitation, evaluation, and sustainability efforts. You will learn from expert mentors while also bringing research-informed practices from your coursework at URI into community settings. This reciprocal approach strengthens both your development and the organizations we partner with. You will be an integral part of Rhode Island’s learning ecosystem.
Internship and Senior Seminar
All LEiA students complete at least three credits of the LEiA Internship (EDC 488), taken concurrently with the Senior Seminar in Learning and Education in Action (EDC 489). The internship may be repeated for up to 12 credits, allowing students to deepen their experience across multiple sites or areas of interest, or to sustain a longer engagement with a site of strong connection.
The Senior Seminar provides structured reflection, professional portfolio development, and collaborative inquiry into the challenges and possibilities of out-of-school education. Through ongoing reflection, mentorship, and community engagement, students grow into competent, flexible, and humanizing educators prepared to design meaningful learning experiences in diverse contexts.