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A big bonus of the program was the co-learning that occurred alongside the other ������Ƶ faculty. I learned so much from the other participants in the cohort. Everyone came to the table with innovative ideas to engage our students in meaningful place-based learning.

Brittany Peterson, professor, Communication Studies, Scripps College of Communication

In June, ������Ƶ faculty participated in an immersive place-based faculty development program at the Murie Ranch in Grand Teton National Park, WY, The experience was part of a Teaching@OHIO faculty development certification designed to infuse experiential learning and community engagement in courses.

The program included academic discussions, outdoor explorations and collaborative projects focused on place-based and community-engaged pedagogy. The professional learning opportunity, which contributes to faculty credentialing in Place-based/Community-Engaged Experiential Learning, grew out of a collaboration between the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (CTLA), the OHIO Place Initiative and the Professional Learning Team at the Teton Science School (TSS).

Michelle O’Malley, developer of the OHIO Place Initiative and executive director of experiential learning, brought her own teaching experience with the student-facing Ecology of Leadership course to this faculty engagement space, designing the CTLA program with Leslie Cook, TSS head of professional learning. Cook and her team undertook the daily workshops and sessions for faculty.

Ecology of Leadership is offered in collaboration with TSS’s Field Education Team and engages students with Grand Teton National Park as a living classroom, exploring the systems of natural ecologies and concepts like disruption, resilience, succession, and adaptation—and drawing parallels between these concepts and human learning environments and institutional structures.

This workshop allowed me to see and experience firsthand the process and importance of connecting course material to a physical place. These deep connections are essential, and living them as a learner creates a pathway for replicating this process at home in Athens, Ohio.

Joe Crowley, assistant professor, Recreation, Sport Pedagogy & Consumer Sciences, Patton College of Education

To complete the faculty development certification, this faculty cohort attended the immersive field course at TSS to engage deeply with place-based education principles and have submitted or will submit a new course (or course component) design or redesign to the University Curriculum Council and CTLA. This will result in a C-course or Learning and Doing course designation. They also reflected on their experience and will present their work at the annual EngageOHIO: ������Ƶ’s Annual Community-Engaged and Place-Based Symposium.

Finally, the certification earned through this program is designed to contribute to faculty promotion and tenure processes.

Six colleges, and nine different academic programs, at OHIO were represented by the faculty who participated and were funded, in part, by their respective deans. The inaugural cohort included:

• Tiffany Arnold, assistant profession of instruction, College of Health Sciences and Professions
• Joe Crowley, assistant profession of instruction, Patton College of Education
• Adonis Durado, assistant professor, Scripps College of Communication
• Aimee Edmondson, associate dean, Scripps College of Communication
• Esther Hernandez-Esteban, assistant profession of instruction, College of Arts and Sciences
• Courtney Kessel, director of experiential learning curriculum integration, University College
• Brittany Peterson, associate professor, Scripps College of Communication
• Manisha Sinha, assistant profession of instruction, College of Arts and Sciences
• Yogesh Sinha, assistant profession of instruction, College of Arts and Sciences
• Judd Walker, assistant profession of instruction, College of Business

At its core, place-based education connects learning with community in ways that deepen student engagement, improve learning outcomes and expand impact beyond the classroom – to the communities where universities are situated and, ultimately, to the communities OHIO graduates live, learn and lead in.

The program itself supported participants in

• Fostering a sustained community of learners and practitioners among OHIO faculty
• Transferring place-based learning to teaching and research in Athens and beyond
• Defining and applying core principles of place-based, community-engaged pedagogies to future curriculum development
• Building foundational understanding of place-based and community-engaged pedagogies
• Developing as champions of integrative, location-conscious teaching models

There's no going back to business-as-usual pedagogy after this. The question is no longer 'How do I incorporate place?' but 'How could I not?' Grand Teton didn't just change my syllabus; it changed my stance.

Yogesh Sinha, assistant professor, English, College of Arts and Sciences

The Grand Tetons Experience

Traveling to Jackson Hole, WY, by plane, faculty on the right side of the aircraft received an unforgettable aerial introduction to the Teton Range, but upon deplaning directly onto the tarmac, participants were immediately struck by the grandeur of the towering peaks defining the horizon.

Inside the airport terminal, while the group was greeted by a representative from the Teton Raptor Center—an “ambassador” falcon accompanied by her handler—offering an unexpected and exhilarating first encounter with the region’s wildlife.

Leslie Cook, head of the Teton Science Schools’ (TSS) Professional Learning Team, welcomed OHIO faculty and transported them to the historic Murie Ranch, their home for the next 10 days. Situated approximately 14 miles from the town of Jackson, the Murie Ranch is located within Grand Teton National Park and designated as a National Historic Landmark District.

Once the home to Mardy and Olaus Murie—pioneers in ecological research and environmental conservation—the ranch sits at the ecological intersection of sagebrush, forest and riparian communities, offering an ideal setting for immersive place-based learning, professional and personal reflection and contemplative appreciation of the natural world.

In preparation for the program, faculty participants received a detailed syllabus, complete with curated readings from place-based education scholars and excerpts from the prolific writings of the Muries themselves.

Each day began with a morning meeting and journaling session. Journaling prompts were designed to integrate the day’s experiential learning with broader pedagogical and ecological considerations—encouraging reflection on the intersection of the natural environment, educational approaches, and human and ecological systems.

Sharing time and space with colleagues across a wide range of academic disciplines to develop ideas, strategies and plans to bolster experiential learning sharpened my skills as an educator in ways that will pay dividends to my students.

Judd Walker, assistant professor, Management, College of Business

Daily activities included both academic engagement and physical exploration. While faculty were on site to engage with and learn the details of new pedagogies, they also had the opportunity to experience portions of the student program, making this a truly experiential learning program.

Participants packed lunches and gear for full-day excursions, ranging from treks into the park to study the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and its resident communities, to research and course development at the TSS Kelly Campus (supported by Wi-Fi access), to outdoor conservation work.

One afternoon featured a community engagement project during which participants collectively removed nearly 200 pounds of invasive plant species from campus grounds. Another day included a 6.7-mile hike near Taggart Lake focused on learning the geological history and formation of the Teton range and the rivers and valleys that run through it.

Throughout the week, faculty recorded their observations, pedagogical insights and strategies for incorporating place-based learning into their own classrooms. 

Associate Professor of Visual Communication Adonis Durado, Scripps College of Communication, plans to redesign his Generative AI course, to introduce a new assignment in which students co-create visual stories rooted in local landscapes and personal memory. "I believe it will challenge them to think more critically about space, identity, and representation, while also creating opportunities to collaborate with local partners," he said.

I am excited to implement some new activities for my study abroad course that will be designed to increase their (the students’) understanding of the communities in both Appalachia and Wales and how they are connected, for example community asset mapping.

Tiffany Arnold, associate professor of instruction, Department of Social and Public Health, College of Health Sciences and Professions