Fresno City College PBL Model

Challenge

For Gen Z and Gen Alpha students, education has to do more than just deliver content. These generations have grown up amid global disruption, climate anxiety, and cultural transformation — and many no longer see school as relevant to the lives they hope to build. They want to collaborate, take action, and work on things that feel real — not hypothetical.

At Fresno City College, faculty in the First-Year Education program saw this tension firsthand. Students were showing up, but many felt disconnected — unsure of their path, their purpose, or whether school would help them get where they wanted to go. Traditional lectures and assignments weren’t enough. The team needed a way to help students build confidence, engage deeply, and connect their learning to something more meaningful — ideally, in a way that fit into their existing courses.

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Solution

Middlestate introduced its Human-Centered Project Learning (HCPL) methodology as the foundation of a semester-long experience, delivered as a series of immersive workshops integrated with students’ coursework in English, Political Science, and Statistics. Rather than assigning a single, top-down project, students were invited to self-select a topic that mattered to them, rooted in campus or community issues.

Over the course of the semester, Middlestate guided students through a structured design cycle that included:

• Problem Framing – Identifying and articulating meaningful challenges from a student perspective
• Stakeholder Mapping & Engagement – Understanding who’s involved, affected, or could help
• Data Collection & Synthesis – Conducting interviews and gathering insights from peers and campus voices
• Ideation & Prototyping – Generating creative solutions and building testable concepts
• Testing & Implementation – Piloting their ideas, refining based on feedback, and preparing final presentations

Each phase was facilitated through hands-on, collaborative workshops that met students where they were — offering enough structure to move forward, but enough freedom to own the work. The result wasn’t just a project. It was a transformation in how students saw themselves, their voices, and their power to create change.

"I really enjoyed the different class format as it provided variety from my other classes and increased my interaction with other students. Not only did I grow from my own group project, but I gained insight and perspective from the other campaigns as well.”

_{— HCPL Student}

Result

The outcomes of the Work & Learn Studio pilot were more than impressive — they were transformative. Students didn’t just complete projects; they created real change on campus.

One student group launched FCC’s first-ever Queer Closet, a safe, affirming space where LGBTQ+ students can gather, connect, and access clothing, hygiene supplies, and food in an environment that centers belonging and dignity. Another team worked with the Ram Pantry to build a new campus community garden, growing produce that now feeds students in need — with food from the garden being served on campus. Other groups addressed mental health, organizing safe, peer-led spaces for students to talk openly about stress, anxiety, and support. Still others tackled housing insecurity, advocating for increased resources for unhoused students.

Across the board, FCC administrators reported a clear shift in student engagement. Students who began the semester disengaged or withdrawn were, by the end, confidently presenting their ideas to campus leaders — making eye contact, articulating insights, and speaking with purpose. One administrator called the transformation “tremendous,” noting that the cohort supported by the First-Year Experience program showed notable gains in communication, collaboration, and confidence when compared with their peers.

"Through Middlestate's Human-Centered Design, students demonstrated a level of critical thinking, engagement, and genuine care for the subject matter and topic they were addressing that is the dream of every educator. MiddleState's work not only benefitted our students in real-time, but created a blueprint for a future learning model that brings the subject matter to life for students."

_{— John Loera, Program Administrator and current STEM coordinator at Clovis Community College}