Learning on Location: Place-Based Approaches for Diverse Learners in Higher Education(Series on Engaged Learning and Teaching)

This book offers an innovative framework and set of pedagogical pathways for deepening college student learning through critical engagement with place. Though the what and how of teaching and learning rightly take center stage in research of best practices, this book argues that the where of education deserves increased attention. Drawing from interviews and case studies with college and university educators in the United States and Canada, Learning on Location highlights pedagogies-in-action and identifies programmatic models for embedding location-based learning within specific courses, majors, curricula, and campus-wide initiatives. Chapters provide a mix of theoretical framing and practical application, with three key practices grounding the text: writing on location, walking on location, and engaging the civic on location. This resource is an invaluable guide for higher education faculty, leaders, and practitioners seeking to enhance student experience through attention to location, support identity-conscious student success, and use reflection and praxis to move toward more inclusive and equitable learning experiences. Supplemental resources—including example assignments, discussion questions for reading groups, and more—are available at www.centerforengagedlearning.org/books/learning-on-location.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Taking Root 2. Making Place: What is Learning on Location? 3. Writing on Location with Mobile Devices 4. Walking on Location: Mapping Places and Experiences 5. Engaging the Civic on Location: Mobilizing Student-Citizens 6. Logistics and Models for Learning on Location 7. Conclusion: Learning on Location in a Changing World

About the Author :
Ashley J. Holmes is Associate Professor of English and Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at Georgia State University, USA.

Review :
“The publication of Ashley Holmes’ Learning on Location: Place-Based Education for Diverse Learners has a special kind of timeliness to it. Just as campus stakeholders of all varieties are returning more fully to classrooms, Holmes shows us how locations writ large—from traditional public spaces to local, almost unnoticed neighborhoods—serve as new classrooms. Highlighting assignments from several disciplines and their role in place-based learning, Holmes demonstrates how the extracurricular classroom provides students with authentic opportunities to connect academic learning, lived experience, and identity in a new and innovative contextualized practice.” Kathleen Blake Yancey, Emerita Professor, Florida State University, USA “How to be here? What will become of this place we are in? Whose responsibility is it to care for our locally-lived futures? These are some of the key existential questions of our time, and of any time, that Learning on Location helps us to navigate. That it does so through the diverse voices of people enacting local learning in diverse places makes these pages come alive. Learning on Location will help educators imagine how to learn and live well in place.” David A. Greenwood, Professor, Lakehead University, Canada “D. H. Lawrence writes, “…the spirit of place is a great reality.” Yet, we too rarely recognize that our campuses are rooted in communities—with responsibilities to places and neighbors. Professor Holmes does more than present immersive learning experiences and occasions for writing immune from ChatGPT. She provides a much-needed framework for civic engagement in the regions where we live and study.” Elaine Maimon, Advisor at the American Council on Education and Distinguished Fellow of the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum, USA “Whether you’re “dipping, dangling, slipping, or jumping” into experiential learning, Ashley Holmes offers a meaningful, sound framework for learning outside of the traditional higher ed classroom. Practical supplementary handouts offer logistical recommendations and advice about how to curate effective learning experiences. Admirable examples from a diverse range of institutions across North America show readers how place-based pedagogy produces critical thinkers and citizens committed to building inclusive democracies.” Susan Hrach, Author of Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning (2021) and Director of the Faculty Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Columbus State University, USA