This dissertation uses theoretical explorations and participant conversations to consider the constitutive possibilities of ethnographic writing that works between students, faculty, and communities and uses those possibilities to describe the philosophy and key elements of an ethnographic composition pedagogy. The project begins with an…

The purpose of this study is to review and follow up on a community, school, and university partnership that is in its third year of operation. A dissertation group at a top-tiered research university studied the partnership for the attributes that emerged during its first year of operation. This study is a follow-up to examine whether the…

Over the past several decades, interdisciplinary programming, community engagement courses, and Writing Across the Curriculum initiatives have proliferated as colleges and universities seek to enhance student learning outcomes, prepare students for a global economy, and seek creative solutions to emergent social and scientific problems…

University-community partnerships offer synergistic spaces for communities to address difficulties and universities to meet their missions. Geographers are well positioned to participate in these partnerships, owing to the discipline's integrative nature, spatial perspectives and analytic approaches, and its attention to social and environmental…

Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill plans to launch an online-only MBA program this July. The school has forged a unique partnership with 2tor, a for-profit company led by John Katzman, the same person who founded "The Princeton Review." Katzman has become an educational reformer of sorts.…

An increasing number of higher education institutions in the United Kingdom are offering an element of community music in their courses, partly in response to changing needs in student training. However, the ethos of community arts, with roots in political activism and welfare, can often sit uncomfortably in formal education. The need for…

Good teaching is creative teaching, yet there is little research focusing on creative teachers themselves. In this article we report a synthesis of 13 qualitative case studies and 2 quantitative studies of teachers who demonstrated everyday or local creativity in their work. Themes and categories were identified through constant comparison and…

This semester-long activity requires students to reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses in attempting to take on a personally meaningful health behavior change challenge. This assignment affords them the opportunity to take a deeper look at theory and health concepts learned throughout the semester and to see how it has informed their own…

This article reports on a national study examining the characteristics of effective school principals which reveals that high student achievement is directly linked to "collective leadership"--the shared influence of educators, parents, stakeholders, and community members. The five-year study, commissioned by the Wallace Foundation and…

Based on a qualitative study, this article describes how undergraduate students in a teacher preparation program construct and make meaning of their experiences in supporting an adult with a disability as the member of a "circle of support". Data were collected through detailed reflection journals that were submitted by the students. Findings…

Purpose: We describe the recruitment strategies and personnel and materials costs associated with two community-based research studies in a Mexican-origin population. We also highlight the role that academic-community partnerships played in the outreach and recruitment process for our studies. We reviewed study documents using case study…

Many complex problems affect the lives of our citizens, including our children. A particularly important problem is a lack of a sense of community and connectedness (Belenky, et. al, 1986; Bellah, et. al, 1985; Dewey, 1938; Houser & Kuzmic, 2001; Palmer, 1998). There is a feeling among many that we are no longer connected to something larger…

This book offers a comprehensive rethinking of the theory and practice of service-learning in higher education. Democratic and community engagement are vital aspects of linking colleges and communities, and this book critically engages the best practices and powerful alternative models in the academy. Drawing on key theoretical insights and…

Understanding the development of community within schools, while critical, has always been problematic. The recent focus on high-stakes standardized testing has only exacerbated this phenomenon and further promoted the dehumanization of students in our schools. An urgent need in research today is to study what strategies are most effective in…

In too many places, community members have abdicated their collective responsibility for education, thinking it only happens in schools. But if their role as citizens is to wrestle with tough problems together, and education is a primary societal function, then it stands to reason that educational accountability focused solely on schools would…