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CENTER FOR PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
Since the launch of the WPI Plan, other universities across the United States have attempted to provide students with project-based learning experiences, with varying degrees of success. WPI’s Center for Project-based Learning will enable us to share best practices honed over more than 40 years and establish WPI as the recognized thought leader in the field of project-based education. Our strategic goals in this area are:
- To introduce universities around the world to project-based learning through seminars, workshops, and a team coaching model unique to WPI.
- To offer consulting services, customized trainings and workshops to provide universities with deeper exposure to this content
- Lead, publish, and present research-based studies on the effectiveness of and latest trends in project-based learning.
GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS
WPI has a remarkably rich global presence, with nearly 900 students participating in project work at our more than 40 centers in 25 countries. As part of our Strategic Plan, we will more effectively and intentionally harness the power of all of this activity and influence in a way that will maximize opportunities for our students, faculty, and alumni to make an impact.
- Establish new global alumni chapters, and designate a Global Ambassador as the lead in each, with a minimum of one chapter in each of the three key strategic regions.
- Identify all graduating students from countries outside the United States, and provide them with a WPI Email for Life. Identify all alumni in the three key regions, and contact those who do not already have valid email addresses in our records and sign up 25% of them for a WPI email address for life, with an ultimate goal of 50%.
THE INNOVATION STUDIO
To realize our academic ambitions, we must create physical spaces that encourage and amplify the aspirations of our university community. Located in the heart of the WPI campus, the new Innovation Studio will do just that. When completed, this building and the programs within it will showcase WPI’s distinctive academic programs and give students and faculty members the tools they need to pursue their ideas to the fullest.
- The Global Impact Lab and the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center will support the faculty in developing courses and projects that identify genuine needs and enable students to design solutions with real value.
- Undergraduate students will use the Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center on the path to forming a new venture — a business, social enterprise, or not-for-profit— extending their previous project work.
- The Global Impact Lab will enable students to communicate high-impact WPI research through a variety of media and to distribute these communications beyond WPI.
- Our NGOs in residence will work with faculty and students to develop high-impact projects that meet the needs of and create value for the communities served by these and similar NGOs.