For years, educators have been trying to give their students real-world experiences in the classroom. “Authentic learning” goes beyond the classroom to give students experiences and skills they will use in their future careers.

Through their work with the Green Hills AEA, UI alumna Laura Williams and colleague Stephanie Lane created the Iowa Authentic Learning Network. The goal of the program is to provide resources, training, and connections for educators, said Williams, the Great Prairie AEA 21st century learning specialist.

Because authentic learning comes in many different forms, educators don’t want to categorize it with one definition, Williams said. The best way to define authentic learning is “requiring a student-directed learning task, utilizing authentic skills and resources, resulting in an authentic project for an authentic audience,” she said.

This method of learning gives students the option to work on a variety of different projects that will connect them with people other than their teachers who can give them feedback on their work and help them develop skills they’ll need in their careers, Williams said.

“Profoundly, I think [education] is really about experiences,” she said. “Those are the things you remember, and those are the things that help shape you and help make you the person you’re going to be.”

Part of her job is to support teachers with authentic-learning experiences and to connect them to community partners, she said. She works through both Great Prairie and Green Hills to provide support to schools in southern Iowa.

Williams met Lane, a digital learning specialist, through working at Green Hills, and they have a shared interest in authentic learning. Through their work, they were introduced to Waukee APEX and Iowa BIG, two programs that present students with opportunities to gain professional experiences.

After hearing about the two programs, Williams and Lane wanted to bring a similar program to the southern part of Iowa and rural areas of the state, Lane said. They want to create resources and exposure to make sure students across the state know there are opportunities available to them, she said.

Williams and Lane want students to understand why their math and science curricula are important and how the skills they learn can be used in their future career, Lane said.

“For years, education and business have been kind of parallel to each other, and we want to see everyone kind of come together and work through this network on the same sidewalk to create these learning opportunities for students and allow them to experience the workforce, what it might be like, and opportunities to develop their passion,” Lane said.

Through authentic learning, students can connect their experiences outside of the classroom to the curriculum they’re learning, Lane said. By showing students an authentic experience in subjects that may not be their favorite, the students can still find value in what they’re learning, she said.

While at the UI, Williams had Clinical Professor Mark McDermott as an instructor for her education courses. When it comes to authentic learning, he hopes teachers will strive for developing a learning environment that encourages students to answer questions about topics they’re genuinely interested in, he said.

When teaching science education, he encourages teachers to educate students in learning concepts through asking and answering questions, McDermott said.

“We really strive to try to get [future educators] to think about how can you focus on big picture ideas, how can you focus on student questions, and then how can you focus on getting students engaged in the practices of science as they develop that understanding of science,” he said.