Learning Communities Redux: The Value of Experiential Learning within a Learning Community

07 February 2023, Version 1
This content is an early or alternative research output and has not been peer-reviewed at the time of posting.

Abstract

The terms "experiential learning" and "learning communities" both appear on current lists of high impact practices in higher education. But while internships have consistently been the subject of pedagogical study over the past fifty years, the study of learning communities, after an initial flurry of activity in the 1990s, declined precipitously. With our institution's Washington D.C. Summer Study Program as its focus, this study proposes to use qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the quality of students internship experiences, asking the question How does an internship completed within a learning community increase a student experiential learning and subsequent civic engagement? We also hope, through focus groups, to better understand the underlying causal process between the students experiences and their subsequent civic engagement and long-term career success.

Keywords

Civic Engagement
Experiential Education
Learning Communities
Internships

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.