Creating Transformative Learning Experiences Through Community Engaged Learning

Event Date & Time

Event Description

Pillar: People and Places, Transformative Learning, Community and Global Engagement

UBC’s reading week suite of programs is a unique opportunity for staff and students to collaborate with and to run projects that benefit community partners – and to experience the benefits of community-based experiential learning. Through these programs, staff and graduate students (through participation in the Community Leadership Program) and undergraduate students (through participation in the Reading Week Student Leader and Reading Week programs) collaborate with community partners and apply their knowledge to lead activities such as running events, creating resources, and conducting research for the community partner. With underpinnings from fields of transformative learning, asset-based approaches to leadership and community development, experiential learning, and self-directed learning, care is taken to provide opportunities for staff, students, and community partners to reflect on their experiences and utilize their strengths.

In this round-table session, you will learn about the impact, successes, and challenges of the Reading Week programs and will be invited to speak with each group involved with the programs. Examples of discussion topics include:

Student participants

1. How did working with a community partner impact your learning?
2. How was this different from what you have experienced in most of your credit courses

Staff/graduate student participants

1. How did working with students impact your role at UBC?
2. What did you learn from working with the community partner and how has it changed your perspective?

Community partner participants

1. What benefits did you receive through working with staff and students in this program?

Program Facilitators

1. What unique considerations exist with the collaboration of multiple learning programs?
2. How do these programs align with strategic priorities, at the unit and university level?

Facilitators

Krista Knechtle, Student Engagement Coordinator, Centre for Community Engaged Learning
Stephanie Thorpe, Workplace Learning Facilitator, Human Resources
Marie Krbavac, Learning Design Educational Consultant, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology

Resources

• Community Leadership Program
  http://clp.ubc.ca/
• Reading Week Student Leader
  https://students.ubc.ca/reading-week-student-leaders
• Reading Week
  https://students.ubc.ca/career/community-experiences/reading-week
• Lindeman, E.C. (1961). The meaning of adult education in the United States. In Merriam,
  Caffarella, & Baumgartner. Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide. (3rd ed., pp.161). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Brooksfield, S. (1986). Understanding and facilitating adult learning. In Merriam,
  Caffarella, & Baumgartner. Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide. (3rd ed., pp.161). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.