The Self-Empowerment of Students and Communities in Community-Based Learning: How Feminist Pedagogy Creates Successful Partnerships

Abstract

Throughout my college experience, I interacted with community-based learning (CBL) in myriad ways, beginning with student participation as a volunteer and donating my time within the structure of a course, progressing to researching the theory behind CBL and solutions to its common problems, and concluding with my unusual experience as a community partner leading an on-campus organization through the maze of working with student volunteers. In all of these varied interactions, the problem of less-than-satisfactory partnerships continued to plague my experiences with CBL, changing but never disappearing as my roles within the CBL structure shifted.