2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Rapid technological change has increased the need for experiential, community-engaged learning that prepares students for the modern workforce [10]. While educational technologies have helped scale content-based learning, scaling experiential learning remains challenging due to its resource-intensive nature and the complexity of mentoring authentic work. In this paper, we report on a series of research projects that use micro-role-based structures to scale apprenticeship-like learning, model education after the workplace, and enable learners to contribute to large projects while learning in two contexts.

First, we used micro-roles to develop undergraduate research pathways into a research lab, making it possible to involve large groups of students in learning web development as early as their first year, and with no prior background. We decomposed the process of developing complex web applications into a series of three micro-roles (Components, Containers, and Applications), each forming a quarter-long unit in a learning pathway where students repeatedly work on tasks of increasing complexity for the given role type, helping them to develop mastery over a growing scope of work. Student interviews clarify how students learn “on-the-job” in a micro-role context, with students describing their journey from initial confusion and dependence on worked examples to forming mental maps that support independent problem-solving and “learning through differences” as they examine similarities and differences in their assigned tasks. We found that this micro-role structure facilitated peer learning and provided opportunities for students from prior cohorts to grow as near-peer leaders and mentors of students who are starting to work in roles that they have already mastered.
Second, we used micro-roles in the context of a quarter-long course of 100+ students, structuring it as a collaborative organization delivering a large project to a community partner. Students split up the work of conducting and analyzing a large set of stakeholder interviews and then split up into smaller teams to prototype ideas that respond to identified needs. Organizing the course in this way, with assignments conceptualized as micro-roles, made it possible to consider structures in which students are assigned to different roles in a given week to cover a larger scope of work. Student interviews report that experiencing a large project ‘end-to-end’ helped contextualize their role and the purpose of their work. They also valued the layered mentorship provided through sections reframed as teamwork sessions for collaborative peer knowledge sharing, tutors as managers running weekly check-ins, and lectures as contexts for project critique. These helped balance the limited time of the staff and the need for personalized support.

​We conclude by proposing that micro-role-based structures offer a powerful framework for scaling real-world experiential learning. Our studies show two different ways in which micro-roles can be implemented in practice, both of which helped to reframe learning after the workplace in ways that enabled more real-world projects and strengthened peer and near-peer mentorship. We discuss implications and future directions for designing educational technologies to support micro-role-based work.