Scaling experiential learning across programs, pathways, and geographies

How experiential learning programs balance access, placement complexity, and support at scale

Managing experiential learning programs has never been simple—but for many colleges and universities today, it’s becoming significantly more complex. Growing enrollments mean more data to track and greater competition for placement sites, while evolving accreditation requirements add new layers of reporting.

At the same time, demand is rising: 72% of teacher education programs anticipate growth over the next 2–3 years, according to Lumivero's Global State of Experiential Learning Report, increasing pressure on already stretched teams. And—most significantly—the needs of students have evolved, too.

That complexity is compounded by the realities of modern education. Students are no longer concentrated in a single location or following a single path—they’re placed across rural and urban geographies, participating in multiple modalities, and progressing through diverse certification pathways. Faculty can’t always observe or support every student in person, creating gaps in feedback and consistency. Meanwhile, institutions are often managing multiple programs at once, each with its own reporting requirements, accreditation standards, and workflows—leading to fragmented systems and tool overload.

With so many moving parts, it’s difficult for administrators to meet accreditation requirements while still supporting students on diverse learning paths. Lumivero’s Experiential Learning Cloud (ELC, formerly known as Tevera) helps solve this challenge by giving institutions a single, configurable platform to manage experiential learning at scale. Whether supporting students across dispersed locations or aligning multiple programs with different requirements, ELC enables universities to standardize processes without losing the flexibility each program needs—so they can deliver consistent, student-centered support.

In this article, we’ll look at how ELC helps administrators gain visibility across programs to give faculty the time and the insights they need to keep every student on track.

The complexity schools are navigating

Experiential learning programs need to manage information from three different sets of stakeholders:

• Students: Tracking prerequisites, eligibility documentation, and placement preferences as well as handling time logs and videos
• Faculty: Monitoring student progress, conducting evaluations, and submitting feedback
• Placement site partners: Managing placement contracts, mentorship assignments, and supervisor qualifications

Information that goes astray among any of these three stakeholders can lead to unclear expectations or stalled progress. Careful monitoring is essential—but difficult, especially once online and hybrid-format programs are taken into account. Institutions with multiple programs that require field experience can soon find themselves bogged down by unwieldy, disconnected tracking systems that don’t meet their needs.

Disjointed monitoring and reporting comes with a cost

90% of program administrators said they struggled to access key insights about their field placement programs, according to Lumivero’s Global State of Experiential Learning Report. That’s probably because half of the programs were conducting their reporting manually—and many rely on multiple disconnected tools.

This type of “tool sprawl” can:

• Make administrators and faculty less available for students because of time spent on logistics, including compiling and analyzing data
• Cause issues with scaling programs as enrollment grows
• Lead to reactive decision-making when insights are only available in reports after the fact

Most importantly, fragmented reporting and monitoring impacts students. When programs have limited visibility into what students are doing in the field, it can mean delayed starts to placements, lost credit for eligible activities, and missed opportunities to intervene with those who are struggling—especially students who are enrolled remotely, working, or caring for family.

Keeping up with the AND-ers

Today’s college students look very different from the traditional, campus-based students of previous generations. They are:

• Studying later in life: The Lumina Foundation reports that 34% of college students are age 25 or older.
• Working while enrolled: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data indicates that 40% of full-time undergraduate students and 74% of part-time graduates were employed in 2020 (the most recent statistical year).
• Caring for children: Research from the SPARK Collaborative estimates that more than 3 million undergraduates and 1 million graduate students are parents.
• More likely to study online: NCES data from 2021 (the most recent statistical year), for example, shows that 20% of undergraduates and 40% of graduates were studying completely online in 2021.

Dr. Cassandra Lettenberger-Klein, Senior Director of Clinical Training at National University in San Diego, has a term for students like this. “We identify all of our students as ‘AND-ers’,” she said in a recent Lumivero webinar. “These are students that are students and parents, and employees, sometimes employers, and caregivers. They just have a lot more on their plate.”

For these students, minor issues can snowball into major ones quickly. They need field placement support processes that serve them first.

From chaos to clarity with ELC

National University is an example of the escalating complexity of programs with field placements. First, there’s the scale involved: NCES reports that NU had over 22,000 students enrolled in 2024–2025. The university offers more than 150 programs, including degrees in fields that require extensive hands-on training. Hybrid and online programs enroll students from across the country, so field placements must satisfy requirements in many states. Programs at NU also start every four to eight weeks, which means new students are entering all the time.

National University’s largely manual, disconnected field experience tracking processes were not keeping pace with this level of complexity. There was no central repository of information everyone could access, and a general lack of visibility into what was happening with students.

Experiential Learning Cloud changed all of that. National University was able to:

• Consolidate program and student data into one centralized platform
• Provide 24/7 resources for students, faculty, and site supervisors
• Monitor student progress in real time
• Simplify reporting for accreditors
• Reduce time spent on manual data entry and consolidation
• Focus more time on mentoring students

In addition to being able to offer their AND-er students more support, Dr. Lettenberger-Klein said unifying their field placement tracking with ELC has opened up other possibilities. “When you’re operating from a reactive stance, it’s very difficult to think about growth and innovation. But when you have a lot of those manual tasks taken care of for you . . . you can start thinking about some pretty cool things to do.”

Watch on-demand: “Inside National University’s Whole-Human Approach to Counseling Fieldwork.”

Work one-on-one with students—even at scale

If your institution wants to scale while supporting multi-pathway programs, Experiential Learning Cloud can help. By consolidating placements, evaluations, and reporting into one system, your team can spend less time managing logistics—and more time supporting students. Learn how by requesting a demo of ELC today.