Bite-Sized Experiential Education for Computer and Information Science

Abstract

Many computer and information science educators wish to incorporate experiential education pedagogies such as study abroad, service learning and internships into their courses because of the profound benefits they can provide for students. However, some experiential approaches come with costs - whether temporal or financial. In this paper, we present the results of a literature review of different experiential pedagogies in computer and information science - service learning, study abroad, educational work experiences, and hackathons. We provide an overview of the benefits and costs of each pedagogy, and investigate what strategies have been used to minimize the costs to both students and faculty. Our analysis uncovers a variety of ways that faculty have experimented with "bite-sized"experiential pedagogies to make them more accessible for both students and faculty. We provide examples of these strategies as inspiration for faculty to sample these high-impact pedagogies, but highlight the gap in empirical evaluation that is needed to fully understand the cost-benefit tradeoffs.