Experiential Learning
Experiential Learning
Engaged Learning to Empower
Whether it’s completing a patient intake project for a hospital administrator, crafting nutritional plans for nursing home residents, or working one-on-one with clients at a start-up fitness center, the Parkinson School incorporates Engaged Learning opportunities into its curriculum. These experiences, which happen outside of the classroom and in real-world environments, enhance student learning, strengthen their skillset, and inform their next steps. Simultaneously, Engaged Learning allows the Parkinson School to connect with the community and pursue health equity.
Engaged Learning is a requirement for undergraduate students majoring in healthcare administration and exercise science. In addition to completing a service-learning course, students in those two majors must also finish a full semester academic internship during their senior year. In 2022, the Parkinson School also began piloting an elective internship course for students enrolled in the school’s third undergraduate major, public health.
Meanwhile, master’s degree-seeking students in four different academic programs—public health, laboratory science, dietetics, and exercise science—all complete practicum hours en route to earning their graduate degrees or certificates. MPH students, for example, must complete 210 hours with a field partner while dietetic students tackle multiple rotations totaling more than 1,000 hours of supervised practice.
Through Engaged Learning, students work on tangible projects while receiving mentorship from a site supervisor or preceptor, gaining transferable skills they can apply in the workforce, if not parlay into full-time employment.
Since its founding, the Parkinson School has compiled an impressive list of more than 200 community partners to facilitate Engaged Learning, ranging from established entities like the American Medical Association and Blue Cross Blue Shield to public agencies like the Chicago Department of Public Health and Chicago Public Schools to nonprofits, nursing homes, startup operations, and hospitals across the Chicago metropolitan area.
Engaged Learning experiences allow students to see what life is like in a professional work setting and help them understand how they can be a change agent in their field.”
– CYNTHIA STEWART, DIRECTOR OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING, PARKINSON SCHOOL OF HEALTH SCIENCES AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Melissa Rodriguez ’24
MAJOR: HEALTHCARE ADMINISTRATION
Rodriguez’s service-learning courses included crafting an improvement plan for a rural Illinois hospital and creating a marketing plan to help the Alzheimer’s Association promote its services. In her final semester, Rodriguez completed an academic internship with the Neuroscience Service Line at University of Chicago Medicine.
There, she worked on a data analytics project to increase patient satisfaction and also supported the introduction of a new patient check-in device.
It’s been so enlightening to expand my horizons, learn new things about the health care sector, and work to unlock ways to do things better.”
MELISSA RODRIGUEZ, ’24
Grace Tylutki ’24
MAJOR: EXERCISE SCIENCE
During her freshman year Exercise Science 101 service-learning course, Tylutki and her peers developed programs on physical health and nutrition for a local high school’s virtual health fair. Her four-month academic internship, meanwhile, brought her to Cardiopulmonary at Northwest Community Hospital in suburban Arlington Heights, where she supported patient recovery and well-being by leading rehabilitation classes and delivering presentations on topics such as coping with chronic illnesses and managing stress.
“It’s been amazing to apply lessons from the classroom into real-world environments and bridge the gap between theory and practice, which is exactly the goal of Engaged Learning.”
1,000+
Hours of Supervised Practice During Multiple Rotations Tackled by Dietetic Students
210
Hours with a Field Partner Completed by MPH Students
Engaged Learning to Empower
Whether it’s completing a patient intake project for a hospital administrator, crafting nutritional plans for nursing home residents, or working one-on-one with clients at a start-up fitness center, the Parkinson School incorporates Engaged Learning opportunities into its curriculum. These experiences, which happen outside of the classroom and in real-world environments, enhance student learning, strengthen their skillset, and inform their next steps. Simultaneously, Engaged Learning allows the Parkinson School to connect with the community and pursue health equity.
Engaged Learning is a requirement for undergraduate students majoring in healthcare administration and exercise science. In addition to completing a service-learning course, students in those two majors must also finish a full semester academic internship during their senior year. In 2022, the Parkinson School also began piloting an elective internship course for students enrolled in the school’s third undergraduate major, public health.
Meanwhile, master’s degree-seeking students in four different academic programs—public health, laboratory science, dietetics, and exercise science—all complete practicum hours en route to earning their graduate degrees or certificates. MPH students, for example, must complete 210 hours with a field partner while dietetic students tackle multiple rotations totaling more than 1,000 hours of supervised practice.
Through Engaged Learning, students work on tangible projects while receiving mentorship from a site supervisor or preceptor, gaining transferable skills they can apply in the workforce, if not parlay into full-time employment.
Since its founding, the Parkinson School has compiled an impressive list of more than 200 community partners to facilitate Engaged Learning, ranging from established entities like the American Medical Association and Blue Cross Blue Shield to public agencies like the Chicago Department of Public Health and Chicago Public Schools to nonprofits, nursing homes, startup operations, and hospitals across the Chicago metropolitan area.
Engaged Learning experiences allow students to see what life is like in a professional work setting and help them understand how they can be a change agent in their field.”
– CYNTHIA STEWART, DIRECTOR OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING, PARKINSON SCHOOL OF HEALTH SCIENCES AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Melissa Rodriguez ’24
MAJOR: HEALTHCARE ADMINISTRATION
Rodriguez’s service-learning courses included crafting an improvement plan for a rural Illinois hospital and creating a marketing plan to help the Alzheimer’s Association promote its services. In her final semester, Rodriguez completed an academic internship with the Neuroscience Service Line at University of Chicago Medicine.
There, she worked on a data analytics project to increase patient satisfaction and also supported the introduction of a new patient check-in device.
It’s been so enlightening to expand my horizons, learn new things about the health care sector, and work to unlock ways to do things better.”
MELISSA RODRIGUEZ, ’24
Grace Tylutki ’24
MAJOR: EXERCISE SCIENCE
During her freshman year Exercise Science 101 service-learning course, Tylutki and her peers developed programs on physical health and nutrition for a local high school’s virtual health fair. Her four-month academic internship, meanwhile, brought her to Cardiopulmonary at Northwest Community Hospital in suburban Arlington Heights, where she supported patient recovery and well-being by leading rehabilitation classes and delivering presentations on topics such as coping with chronic illnesses and managing stress.
“It’s been amazing to apply lessons from the classroom into real-world environments and bridge the gap between theory and practice, which is exactly the goal of Engaged Learning.”