34. Community-Based Learning: Practices, Challenges, and Reflections

Abstract

This paper will highlight an innovate practice in teaching and learning by reflecting on two fourth-year sociology seminar classes that participated in a community-based learning project at York University. Fifty students collaborated in three to six person teams to work on a problem/issue identified by one of five not-for-profit organizations who work with and/or for women as victims, offenders, and/or professionals in the Canadian criminal justice system. Reflections on the process and outcome of the experience offer insights into organizing and engaging in a community-based learning experience as well as point to some of the substantive benefits. These include the opportunity for increased student engagement, access to, and awareness of, course and community related issues, and citizenship. The paper also identifies potential opportunities to incorporate the dimensions of participation and collaboration between institutions of higher learning and the community/world to mobilize knowledge and offer unique scholarship opportunities for faculty.