Academics in Action
Learn by Doing
In LEAPS, your classroom extends into community organizations, businesses, and real-world projects.
You'll learn how people and organizations learn, grow, collaborate, and solve problems—and you'll have opportunities to put that learning into practice while you're still a student.
Your LEAPS courses will go beyond the traditional classroom. They're likely to also include:
- A meeting with a community organization
- A conversation with a Detroit leader
- A team working on a client project
- A presentation to an external partner
- A neighborhood exploration
- A collaborative problem-solving session
Understand How People and Communities Learn
LEAPS brings together ideas from education, the social sciences, technology, the liberal arts, and other fields to help you understand how people and organizations learn and change.
You'll explore questions like:
- How do people learn?
- How do organizations adapt?
- How do communities respond to change?
- What makes collaboration work?
- How can we communicate across different perspectives?
- How do we approach problems that don't have easy answers?
The goal isn't to prepare you for just one job. It's to help you understand the people, organizations, and systems you'll encounter throughout your career.
Real Challenges. Real Projects.
LEAPS courses connect academic learning to real-world challenges.
You may work on projects with community organizations, collaborate with classmates to address a complex question, or apply what you've learned to a problem outside the classroom.
You'll have opportunities to practice:
- Research. Understand a question before jumping to a solution.
- Collaboration. Work with people who bring different perspectives and experiences.
- Communication. Explain ideas clearly and make your case to different audiences.
- Problem solving. Move from identifying a challenge to exploring possible solutions.
- Reflection. Consider what worked, what didn't, and what you learned along the way.
Build a Degree Around Your Goals
Your interests may change during college. That's okay.
LEAPS is designed to give you increasing flexibility as you discover what you want to do.
During your first two years, you'll build a shared foundation with your cohort. You'll study topics including learning, Detroit's history and culture, social sciences, technology, liberal arts, communication, collaboration, and problem solving.
During your junior and senior years, you'll have the opportunity to create an individualized concentration that connects your academic interests with your future goals.
Instead of simply checking courses off a list, you'll work with advisors to think intentionally about the knowledge and experiences you need for the future you want to build.
Build Skills for Whatever Comes Next
LEAPS courses are designed to help you develop skills employers value across industries:
- Communication
- Critical thinking
- Collaboration
- Leadership
- Creative problem solving
- Project management
- Facilitation
- Systems thinking
- Adaptability
- Training/Mentorship
You'll graduate with more than knowledge about a single subject.