Turning the Instruction Over: How to Invite Engagement through Community Connection and Civic Action

Abstract

The Critical Issues Investigation combines experiential education philosophy with service-learning methods to situate a section of a course in both personal and professional development utilizing active and engaged citizenship for college age students. Through the use of the National Issues Forum materials, critical issues facing a variety of communities become a platform for investigation and innovative problem solving through recreation and leisure services delivery systems. During the investigation, learning objectives are set by the faculty, but the specific tasks and the focused direction for the learning are turned over to students to define, investigate, implement, and evaluate. Instructors become “moderators” of student groups, providing structural direction while withholding traditional forms of explicit didactic instruction. As the students and moderators examine the issues, their collective knowledge around the issues expands. As a result, culminating projects highlight critical national community needs in which students unravel the complex nature of the issues and promote action-oriented dialogue focused on addressing them locally.