Work-based learning can take many forms across disciplines, and there is no single model that fits every course or program. The following examples offer flexible, scalable approaches that faculty can adapt based on their field, learning outcomes, and students' needs. Faculty across the campus have led courses with some of these models. 

Arranged from simplest to most complex, these models illustrate how WBLEs can be integrated into the curriculum to enhance academic learning, foster professional development, and expand access to meaningful experiences for all students.

Case-Based Learning with External Input

• Description: Students analyze real or fictionalized cases inspired by professional practice, developed in collaboration with external partners.
• Examples: Students in a geography course assess regional transit equity using open datasets and community partner insights; an art history course challenges students to evaluate exhibition design plans using real museum constraints.
• Parternships: Employers, alumni, or community stakeholders can serve as guest speakers, provide feedback on student work, serve as judges, or share real-world parallels.
• Benefits: Builds critical thinking and problem-solving skills while helping students apply course content to real-world scenarios. Easily scalable across disciplines with minimal logistical lift.

Embedded Project Model

• Description: External projects or partnerships are embedded into an existing course, allowing students to work individually or in teams to solve real problems or produce deliverables.
• Examples: Sociology students partner with a local nonprofit to design and implement a community survey; marketing students develop outreach materials for a regional food co-op. A design faculty member develops a fictional start-up client scenario, including a full creative brief, branding constraints, and mock stakeholder feedback loops. University departments can also submit projects for consideration, for example a branded marketing campaign for a Residence Life initiative; digital toolkit for student teachers; biodiversity map of campus green spaces; audience development study for campus performances; and an oral history archive expansion.
• Structure: Faculty coordinate with an external partner in advance to scope a project aligned with course outcomes. Reflection and connection to course content are built in throughout the semester. Faculty may even choose multiple projects and assign teams to complete them.
• Benefits: Encourages students to tackle complex, open-ended challenges that mirror professional work. The model builds problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills—and provides a low-barrier entry point for faculty interested in integrating WBLEs. While many partnerships will be regional or community-based, project-based WBLEs also provide opportunities for students to engage with national or international collaborators.
• Additional Considerations: Some universities are leveraging project-based learning effectively in co-curricular spaces as well, including in student organizations, summer academies for athletes, and January/winter term.

Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) Model 

• Description: Students engage in structured community-engaged learning and service that addresses a real need, while connecting their experiences back to course content through guided reflection and discussion.
• Examples: Psychology students develop and lead peer wellness workshops in local high schools; environmental science students collaborate with a watershed group on habitat restoration and analyze outcomes in lab reports.
• Structure: Service activities are integrated into course learning objectives, with community partners treated as co-educators. Students engage in sustained service, not just one-time volunteering.
• Benefits: Promotes civic engagement, social responsibility, and deeper understanding of complex community issues. Encourages empathy and systems thinking while reinforcing disciplinary learning.

Add-On or Lab Model

• Description: A 1-credit WBLE component is paired with an existing course. Students complete related out-of-class work (e.g., internships, research, service), get feedback from professionals in the field, and reflect through structured assignments.
• Examples: Economics students partner with a local government agency or nonprofit to analyze real economic data—such as housing trends, labor shortages, or inflation impacts—and present policy-relevant findings; art and design students assist a community arts organization with preparing exhibitions, creating accessible gallery materials, or managing social media storytelling campaigns—connecting their work to visual culture or art criticism coursework.
• Benefits: Allows for more formal tracking and assessment of work-based learning without redesigning the main course. Helps students make intentional connections between their applied work and academic learning, while enabling faculty to assess learning outcomes related to professional practice.

Full-Course WBLE Model  

• Description: The course itself centers around a WBLE, such as an internship seminar, practicum, or client-based project course. Students engage in off-campus or hybrid work experiences while completing structured academic components.
• Examples: Media arts students complete internships with local production companies and present portfolios and reflections in a capstone seminar.
• Benefits: Provides students with immersive, real-world experiences directly tied to academic reflection and learning. Especially impactful when strong supervision and structured integration with coursework are in place.

Course Series or Capstone Experience Model

• Description: A set of linked courses builds toward or is structured around WBLEs, often culminating in a capstone, portfolio, or public-facing deliverable.
• Examples: Engineering students complete a two-semester senior design sequence with industry mentorship; English majors move from a writing-intensive seminar to a client-facing editorial practicum producing content for real organizations.
• Benefits: Ideal for programs looking to differentiate their curriculum, build industry aligned pipelines, or integrate career preparation into the core of the major.

Discipline-Specific Immersive Experiences

• Description: Some academic programs include structured, intensive field-based experiences that are required for credentialing, licensure, or professional preparation. These may be full-time or part-time, credit-bearing, and often involve close supervision by both site mentors and faculty.
• Examples: Nursing students complete clinical rotations in hospitals; education majors engage in student teaching placements; environmental science students complete field research as part of a capstone; engineering students participate in semester (or longer) co-ops embedded within their degree program.
• Benefits: These experiences offer students deep immersion in professional settings with high levels of responsibility and oversight. They provide unmatched opportunities for skill development, career exploration, and professional identity formation.
• Considerations: Because these experiences are often mandated, already intensive, and highly structured, they may not need new WBLE overlays—but can inform best practices for reflective learning, supervision, and academic integration.

These models are intended to inspire—not prescribe. Faculty are encouraged to adapt and combine approaches in ways that reflect the values and priorities of their disciplines and students.