Conference Program

Transformative Education (TE) calls for pedagogical approaches that encourage learners to critically engage with social realities and develop the knowledge needed to participate in democratic societies. In alignment with SDG 4.7, TE emphasizes global citizenship, awareness, and critical reflection through innovative educational practices. Within higher education, experiential and place-based pedagogies offer ways to connect these goals to students’ engagement with real-world contexts. At a time when policy constraints in parts of U.S. higher education have limited how certain social topics may be addressed, educators are increasingly exploring approaches that focus on participatory knowledge production through experiential engagement with communities. This presentation examines two community-based learning projects grounded in City as Text methodology, both implemented in lower-income communities in Florida, United States, characterized by large immigrant populations. Both projects involved undergraduate students: one including students from multiple academic majors, and another implemented in a teacher education course.

City as Text is an experiential learning approach that invites students to engage with communities as sites of inquiry through critical observation, dialogue, and reflection (Braid & Long, 2010). The methodology shifts students from passive recipients of knowledge to active co-creators of their learning experiences (Braid, 2021) and situates knowledge production within real-world contexts by connecting academic concepts with lived community experiences (Clavijo Olarte et al., 2023). Engagement with place supports reflective observation and meaning-making, key elements of experiential learning processes (Kolb & Kolb, 2017).

Using this approach, students interpreted the community as a “text.” In the first project, students explored public spaces and local institutions while reflecting on language use and identity. These experiences prompted students to reconsider their perceptions of the community and connect local dynamics to broader contexts. In the teacher education course, the methodology was adapted as Community-as-Text, where teacher candidates conducted observations across local sites and analyzed how community environments might influence educational experiences for multilingual learners. For many participants, this represented their first sustained engagement with communities different from their own backgrounds, prompting reflection on how social contexts reflect values and shape lives, including educational opportunities and practice.

Drawing on Transformative Learning Theory (Mezirow, 1997) and critical place-based education (Gruenewald, 2008), this presentation examines how experiential engagement with communities fosters participatory knowledge production and encourages students to reconsider prior assumptions about communities, language, and education (Dewey, 1998; Freire, 2000; Kolb & Kolb, 2017) and to critically consider intentions for action (Mezirow, 1997). Preliminary analysis indicates that immersive engagement with local environments deepens awareness of community dynamics and their connections to broader global contexts. Across Community-as-Text projects, additional insights emerged regarding multilingualism as an educational resource, roles of community institutions in supporting learning, and the value of recognizing family and community knowledge as assets for teaching.

By linking experiential learning with critical reflection, these course-based projects illustrate educators as agents of change by designing pedagogical experiences that promote democratic participation, community understanding, and engaged citizenship. Community-based experiential learning thus offers a pathway for preparing students to recognize community knowledge as a resource for more inclusive and democratic educational practices.