Community-Based Research and Higher Education

Download or read book Community-Based Research and Higher Education written by Kerry Strand and published by Jossey-Bass. This book was released on 2003-05-30 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Community-Based Research and Higher Education is the long-awaited guide to how to incorporate a powerful and promising new form of scholarship into academic settings. The book presents a model of community-based research (CBR) that engages community members with students and faculty in the course of their academic work. Unlike traditional academic research, CBR is collaborative and change-oriented and finds its research questions in the needs of communities. This dynamic research model combines classroom learning with social action in ways that can ultimately empower community groups to address their own agendas and shape their own futures. At the same time it emphasizes the development of knowledge and skills that truly prepare students for active civic engagement. Community-Based Research and Higher Education is written by five academics from different disciplines with extensive experience in community-based research as teachers, researchers, administrators, scholars, and community activists. They draw on their own and others' experience to develop concrete guidelines for creating and sustaining partnerships through CBR projects as they also outline the principles that guide decisions about research design and methods. The authors offer extensive practical suggestions for incorporating CBR into courses and curricula; include voices and experiences of people from across the country who are doing CBR on their campuses and in their communities; and describe a wide range of exemplary research projects with diverse community partners, such as the Southwest Improvement Council in Denver, Washington D.C.'s Council of Latino Agencies, and Youthbuild, a job training program based in New Jersey. The authors conclude by detailing a series of action steps that can help institutions realize a vision of higher education based on research-oriented campus-community partnerships.