Congratulations to our Online RLE grant recipients!

RLE at USM is partnering with our Center for Academic Innovation to offer a special opportunity to faculty for funded and guided online Research Learning Experience course design. USM has the opportunity to be the first in the UMS to offer fully asynchronous RLEs. We are very pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025-2026 online RLE grants:

Marni Berger (English)

Kim Bentley (Art)

Miramanni Mishkin (Geography-Anthropology/Environmental Science)

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Research Learning Experiences are 100 and 200-level courses that engage students in inquiry, research,  and creative activity that is hands-on, open-ended, and shaped by discoveries that occur during the course. RLEs support our students’ transition from passive knowledge consumers to active knowledge producers. All RLE courses involve:

  • student-focused, inquiry-based learning, research, and creative activity, and 
  • student-directed work that aligns with professional practices in a particular field, 
  • student-led inquiry and creative activity that has  meaning that students can see outside of the classroom.

First-year RLE’s are restricted to new, first-year students only. These RLEs include immersive, experiential, and hands-on learning experiences early in the semester, normally outside of regularly scheduled class times. RLE class schedules in Maine Street provide details on dates and activities for our first-year RLE immersion experiences. Immersion experiences involve students in

  • fun, hands-on, learning in USM’s experiential learning spaces and off campus locations
  • building relationships with other students and with instructors
  • developing skills of inquiry, investigation, and application that students can apply in their course, throughout their first year, and beyond.

Advanced RLE’s are open to first and second year students. A-RLEs also involve hands-on and experiential learning, but the immersive experiences occur during regularly scheduled class times, or are of shorter duration outside of regular class meetings.

Whether first-year or advanced, in all of our RLE courses, student-initiated and directed inquiry is key. Within the context of first- and second-year students’ knowledge and experiences, RLEs and A-RLEs help students themselves define, pose, and address the questions, to see how their work has relevance outside the classroom, and to understand how it connects to questions and activities that professionals in the field might ask or engage in. All RLE courses satisfy the Engaged Learning requirement and at least one other requirement in the Core Curriculum or in the major.

Fall 2025 RLEs:

ANT 101 Cultural Anthropology, Sarah Lockridge

ART 124 Cre8, Kim Bently

ENG 100 College Writing, Marni Berger

ENG 102 Academic Writing, Elizabeth Dodge

ENG 102 Academic Writing, Tim Erwin

ESP 101-102 Environmental Science and Sustainability, and Lab, Karen Wilson and Linda Woodard

HON 115 Introduction to Honors

               Mark Mullane

               Bernadette Esposito

               Jamie Picardy

               Ashley Emmons

               Netty Provost

HON 215 Honors Academic Writing, Amy Amoroso

TAH 150 Professional Practices in Tourism and Hospitality, Tracy Michaud

USM Online:

               ENG 102 Academic Writing, Marni Berger

               ART 124 Cre8, Kim Bentley

               GEO 101 Human Geography, Miramanni Mishkin

Grant Support:

RLEs are supported through the generosity of the Alfond Foundation funding for UMS Transforms. Grant funding may be used to pay for a range of expenses associated with the development and launch of RLEs, including stipends for faculty course redesign, and course mini-grants to fund student access to and engagement with immersive, experiential learning on and off campus.

UMS Transforms- Research Learning Experiences Program Learning Outcomes and Assessment

Cognitive Outcomes (changes in cognitive skills

1. Students will formulate appropriately scoped topics or questions that will guide their scholarly exploration.

2. Students will describe their iterative approaches to exploration for work without a defined answer.

3. Students will effectively communicate with collaborators about their experience.

4. Students will demonstrate responsibility for the discovery process.

Dispositional Outcomes (changes in beliefs or attitudes)

1. Students will identify the relevance/applicability of their experience beyond the RLE course.

2. Students will reflect on how their exploratory process has helped them develop as learners.

3. Students will explain the importance of belonging to a community for their learning.

For faculty: RLE Course Proposal Information

For more information, contact Susan McWilliams.