Experiential Learning

Don’t Just Read About It – Experience It!

Experiential Learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience.

Research has given us ample evidence that integrating experience with learning significantly increases the depth and breadth of comprehension and knowledge retention. Translation: Curriculum that requires you to use what you learn in the real world results in a more valuable academic outcome for you. Learning environments that incorporate experience strengthen practical abilities, critical thinking skills and core intercultural competencies.

The result is an empowered you – ready to identify and pursue your career in an increasingly globalized market. CEA embraces this philosophy and applies it under the guidance of the National Society for Experiential Education, which outlines recognized principles of good practice for all experiential learning activities. In accordance with the society, CEA Global Education faculty develop and lead a variety of exercises designed to engage you in academically rigorous, meaningful and memorable activities, including:

• Active learning in the classroom
• Language exchange
• International internships
• Community-based research
• Service learning
• Work abroad
• Civic volunteering

CEA Global Campuses also teach Communication and Global Competence, a 300-level course incorporating 45 hours of instruction valued at three credits. The course was reviewed and approved by the University of New Haven, the University of Record at CEA. It is designed to give students a fully structured and rigorous analysis of the theory, practice and personal challenges of developing intercultural competence. Within the structured format of the course, you will be asked to engage in a personal process of continuous reflection and critical analysis of the meaning of culture and the impact it has on interpersonal and professional relationships.

CEA’s International Staff are experts on local culture and share their knowledge through a host of unique, interactive and extracurricular activities, which can range from visiting local markets to going out to restaurants and observing community events.

Academic excursions provide another opportunity for experiential learning. Structured activities invite you to engage in learning exercises outside the classroom, introducing you to the social, cultural and political fabric of host cities. Our instructors are required to design, organize and assign students' homework, museum-based projects and directed research that take them throughout the city.

Immersion and instruction don’t end when the bell rings. CEA’s housing options also are designed to continue your experiential learning, placing you either with a host family, where you will practice your language skills and absorb the family dynamic of your host culture first-hand, or in apartments or residence halls, where you may live alongside national and international students. The variety of housing options is designed to meet varying language level needs, but all serve as additional opportunities to interact with and explore your host culture.