The University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS), located in northern Michigan near the confluence of Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior, provides experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. We typically enroll 120 to 140 students in research-intensive 5-credit course offerings (May-August) in topic areas such as Limnology, Forest Ecosystems, Ornithology, Botany, and other field courses focused on ecosystems and organisms. We also host 30 to 45 graduate students conducting thesis or dissertation research on-site. Our experiential learning programs are enhanced by agency- and internally-funded research projects that bring from 25 to more than 50 non-teaching, faculty-level researchers to our field station annually. Student field experiences are enhanced by interactions with well-established investigators and graduate students conducting research on site. As is often the case with field stations, however, we are challenged to diversify our student population and to make field learning experiences available to students from broader ranges of socio-economic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. To meet this challenge, we developed the UMBS Transforming Learning Program (TLP) to diversify our course offerings, lower financial costs, and attract younger undergraduates, with an overall goal of engaging a broader diversity of students in field research.
Results/Conclusions
We developed seven new courses focused on building design/architecture, art/botanical illustration, environmental policy, field-centered introductory chemistry and biology laboratories, global change/sustainability, and aquatic microbial ecology. Unlike our 5-credit field courses, which require longer residence and meeting summer tuition expenses, our TLP courses were two to four weeks long and structured as “bookends” to academic year courses offered on the Ann Arbor campus. The shorter time commitment enabled students to explore field experiences without committing to an entire summer. Importantly, because TLP course credits are awarded during the academic year, these students incurred no summer tuition expenses, making TLP experiential learning more affordable. TLP enrolled 76 students, a 58% increase over those enrolled in our “traditional” courses. Our program evaluation showed that 39% of TLP students were non-white (vs. 35% of UM students), over 80% would like to return to UMBS, and over 80% ranked hands-on learning as contributing most to their learning experiences. Freshman and sophomores constituted 41% of TLP students, but only 19% of our other students. Although our program evaluation suggested that we are diversifying our student body, it is also providing information enabling us to enhance student experiences as we continue the program.