Service-Learning in the Context of “Place”: Possibilities and Limitations for Graduate Students

• In Event: Poster Session 15
  In Poster Session: Service-Learning and Experiential Education Poster Session

Abstract

This paper describes the service-learning experiences of graduate students in a place-based learning course delivered at the University of British Columbia in 2011. In particular, we are interested in how a combination of justice-oriented service-learning and place-based learning, two emerging areas of scholarship, impacts graduate students’ understanding of local social and ecological issues (particularly those associated with local Indigenous groups), feelings of efficacy, and motivation to be involved in the work of social change. In the context of recurrent colonialism and contestations over land, our hope is that this study focused on graduate students may inspire other educators working in Indigenous contexts to approach teaching in similarly radically relativized ways.

Authors

• Tracy L. Friedel, The University of British Columbia

• Ofira Roll, The University of British Columbia