Engaged Learning Program becomes ‘fabric’ of Rider
By Hannah Newman
Graduating from Rider consists of more than a GPA requirement. It is mandatory for students to also earn Engaged Learning Points by involving themselves in hands-on learning and campus activities. This program, introduced in 2018, ensured all students had the chance to enhance their experiences beyond the classroom.
Assistant Vice President for Career Development, Engaged Learning and Leadership Kim Barberich said, “A lot of schools have experiential education programs, but they’re not always required. The fact that it’s required at Rider makes students seek out these opportunities and complete them.”
There are five categories that Engaged Learning opportunities fall under: Arts, Media & Creativity; Civic and Community Engagement; Guided Research & Scholarship; Internships, Co-ops & Fieldwork; Leadership & Mentoring; and Study Abroad & Cultural Exploration.
The most common ways students earn their points is through internships and fieldwork, along with Meals on Wheels.
Freshman and transfer students with fewer than 31 credits need to earn six Engaged Learning Points. Transfer students with 31 or more accepted credits need three.
Fortunately, many point opportunities, such as internships, study abroad programs and leadership on campus can count for multiple points. All service hours for the Rider Food Pantry and Rider Cares Day offer more points based on the amount of hours served, according to Barberich.
In previous years, Engaged Learning Points were submitted for approval through BroncNation; however, this year, the university changed the submission platform to Canvas, according to Barberich.
“Students are already familiar with Canvas based on their courses, and it also gives us the opportunity to also look and assess them [the point submissions] on a rubric so that we make sure that the learning outcomes that we’ve defined for Engaged Learning, are being met,” said Barberich.
Retired psychology professor Anne Law worked as an assistant to the provost from 2014 to 2016. During the 2014-15 academic year, Law attended a conference with Gardner Institute for first year experiences. The company contains a group of national experts that specialize in helping students transition to college and how to support their success, according to Law.
It was there that Law found and decided to present the Engaged Learning program to Rider.
“The origin was really how to provide for all students, things that we believe are valuable and that we think Rider students do, but we would want all of them to do it in some form,” said Law. “That was the initial idea and it took two years to get it approved.”
Law pitched the Engaged Learning program to various clubs and organizations on campus to ensure the community was on board with the requirements that all students would demonstrate should Engaged Learning get approved.
The Engaged Learning program was first rolled out for the class of 2021, which came with a hiccup, as the class had their second semester of junior year and all of senior year completely online, according to Provost DonnaJean Fredeen in an interview with The Rider News on Sept. 13.
Although the university was forgiving of the circumstances, the class of 2023 had only six students that did not meet their Engaged Learning requirement, according to Fredeen.
In spring of 2024, President Gregory Dell’Omo and Fredeen agreed that, if Engaged Learning Points are not met, they will not confer a student’s degree. Only two students had to pick up Engaged Learning points over the summer.
“I think that it is becoming much more a fabric of the institution,” said Fredeen. “It’s really the centerpiece of the Rider experience. When we first created Engaged Learning, we gathered as much data as we could, and we realized that about 75% of our students were already doing what we wanted them to be doing with this program, and we just wanted to capture that other 25%.”
Not only is Rider one of the few institutions that require Engaged Learning for graduation, but the university also mandates a reflection piece that allows students to assess how these opportunities have shaped their Rider experience.
“It’s not just a check-off box, ‘how are you connecting what is happening in the classroom and what you’re experiencing in the real world?’ I think that’s what makes our program very unique and very special,” said Fredeen.
Seniors can also submit an essay about their Engaged Learning experience for the chance of winning the Engaged Learning Award at graduation. Applications for submissions are usually sent out in April, according to Barberich.
“It’s not just about the acquisition of knowledge in the classroom, but the application of the involvement,” said Fredeen.