Project-based Learning

“WPI is making contributions to global efforts around sustainability, climate adaptation, social equity and global health.” Mimi Sheller, dean of The Global School, discusses the global impact of WPI faculty and students; and the dynamic environment and cross-institutional collaboration generated by Worcester’s colleges and universities. 

WPI will launch a new initiative to increase access to off-campus project-based learning experiences through the Global Projects Program, with funding from a State Department IDEAS grant. The effort will focus on students with disabilities. The project, led by the Global Experience Office in collaboration with the Office of Accessibility Services, is highlighted in this UPI news report.

In The Academic Minute podcast, Lindsey Davis, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Humanities and Arts, describes a WPI alumni survey which found women attributed significantly greater gains in self-efficacy to their project work at WPI than men did. The findings suggest project-based learning as a method to recruit and retain women in STEM.

In The Academic Minute podcast, Sarah Stanlick, assistant professor in the Department of Integrative and Global Studies and director of the Great Problems Seminar, explains how a WPI alumni survey demonstrates that a negative project experience still provides learning benefits to students. The findings shed light on the differences between satisfaction and learning and demonstrate that even projects that do not seem useful to students at the time can have lasting positive benefits.