Education, Community, and Social Engagement

In many higher education and student affairs graduate programs the responsibility for providing field-based learning often falls on the graduate assistantship. Programs often situate theoretical learning inside the classroom and practical engagement at the assistantship site. The growing urgency for educators to create transformative learning experiences and to integrate deep interactions with issues of social justice into the classroom challenges graduate faculty to re-evaluate their approach to teaching and learning. In this chapter, the author makes the case for adopting a creative, community-based, and culturally engaging approach to teaching in graduate education programs.