Situating Interdisciplinary Place-Based Learning as a High-Impact Educational Practice

Abstract

Our introductory chapter explores how virtual place-based learning can be modeled in the context of urban higher education. It examines how the concept of virtual has been creatively interpreted across a range of disciplines including the sciences, humanities, behavioral sciences, and professional studies, with chapters that explore the many contexts for its application while drawing upon an interdisciplinary perspective. At the same time, the unique nature of this approach as illustrated in subsequent chapters is its application to courses that are already interdisciplinary. In this way, the chapter seeks to connect virtual place-based learning approaches to the concept of interdisciplinarity as an innovative approach to student engagement—an approach that firmly establishes virtual place-based learning as a high-impact educational practice.