Faculty and Staff Mentors

Exploratory

Prepares students for authentic applications of learning in career or future ELAs but does not require direct or sustained participation in workplaces or communities. No or limited networking opportunities.

  • Examples: Field trips, authentic case studies, simulations, roleplaying, job shadowing and observation, informational interviewing, Q&A with industry professionals, hands-on building or creating within a classroom/university context.

Applied

Direct participation in work practices or authentic applications of learning, either through project-based learning, research, community engagement, or a workplace. Facilitates networking opportunities.

  • Examples: Internships, field or work placements, research, or client-led projects alongside or embedded into coursework or as co-curricular experiences. Short-term study abroad.

Professional

Has a defined purpose and sustained authentic application of learning. Generally semester length and may be a culminating experience in a program.

  • Examples: Immersive experiences, internships, and professional experiences with high degree of autonomy and responsibility. Semester length study abroad. Sustained undergraduate research that results in significant novel outcomes.

Applying the ELA designation

Both curricular and co-curricular activities can qualify for the ELA designation, but each pathway has a separate process for review and approval.

Faculty/staff mentors, not students, are responsible for applying for the co-curricular ELA designation. Applications for co-curricular ELAs will be considered on a rolling basis.

Apply here

For the 2025-26 academic year, academic units should:

  1. Review EL Framework and requirements
  2. Identify courses
  3. Assign attributes

See the guidlines link below for full details. 

Special Cases:

  • Community engaged learning courses: Requires review by Service Learning Program for CEL designation. 
  • Study Abroad: Follows existing approval protocols via the Education Abroad office.

View the 2025-26 Curricular ELA Process and Course Attributes guidelines

Frequently asked questions

Let us know if you have any questions that aren't answered here.

The university has created definitions and a coding system for both High Impact Practices (HIPs) and Experiential Learning Activities (ELAs), both of which feed into the success metrics for the IUB 2030 Strategic Plan.

At the system-wide level, only HIPs are being tracked. However, IUB has elected to recognize activities beyond the HIP designation and created the additional ELA designation to reflect the types of activities offered at IUB.

Yes, but you will need to assign one attribute as the primary and the others as secondary. For example, some of our Sustaining Hoosier Communities courses may carry the attributes of service learning and creative activity (such as designing and painting a mural for one of our rural partner communities). Some experiences abroad may also be internships or community engaged research may also be community-based learning, and so on.

You may also combine ELA course attributes with other course codes. For example, if your project-based ELA is also an example of global learning, we encourage you to use both tags, but project-based learning should be listed as the primary activity type.

Many IU experiences combine curricular and co-curricular elements. For example, there may be a spring course that is followed by a co-curricular summer research program. We recommend going through both the curricular and co-curricular approval processes, so that the university can track the full extent of your program’s impact. If the co-curricular activity represents the experience itself, and the curricular activity is preparation for that experience, then the ELA designation will likely be tied to the co-curricular portion.

There is currently no campus-level guideline for number of credit hours or length of experience. Refer to the ELA engagement types to better understand how the length of experience plays a role in determining the type of engagement.

Have a question? Reach out!

If you have any questions about ELAs, we're happy to help. Contact us at explearn@iu.edu.