Reimaging Experiential Learning in Online Courses for the Digital Economy

To continue functioning and adhere to physical/social distancing regulations during COVID-19, post-secondary institutions transitioned courses online, including those with experiential learning components. Experiential learning occurs when students apply course theory and concepts in real-world situations. Types of experiential learning include, for example, eService-learning, co-op, remote co-op, practicums, service-learning, and community-based projects. Experiential learning is a core component of students' education and growth. It allows them to acquire in-demand skills, gain competencies to transition into the workforce, obtain new skills to re-enter the workforce, or prepare for future employment in the digital economy. However, academics, students, employers, and policy-makers report that they do not know how to effectively integrate or do experiential learning in online courses. Both experiential and online learning have established benefits and research foundations and experiential learning is important to retain in online courses and as work environments change. To do so successfully, academics, students, employers, and policy-makers need to reimagine how they can integrate or do quality experiential learning in online courses to ensure that it prepares students for evolving labour demands. Therefore, in this knowledge synthesis project we will conduct a scoping review to: (a) identify the types of available evidence on experiential learning in online courses; (b) identify promising strategies for integrating and doing experiential learning in online courses; (c) identify outcomes of integrating and doing experiential learning in online courses; and (d) identify and analyze gaps in the current evidence on experiential learning in online courses in order to direct future research on the topic.