Twenty-sixth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

The Ohio Fellows program utilizes mentorship, professional networking, interdisciplinary and place-based learning strategies to reveal and advance the inherent potential of all students. Introduced in the 1960s and revitalized in 2012, the Ohio Fellows of Ohio University (Athens, Ohio, U.S.A.) strive to connect current undergraduate students with community and professional leaders to promote engaged citizenship. The fellows meet on a regular basis throughout the academic term to discuss topics of relevance. While some of the topics are pre-determined by faculty fellows, a goal is to provide the fellows with a space to identify and assess topics or events that they deem important for their community. With the guidance of faculty fellows/mentors community connections are forged students may embark on meaningful community engagement, service and research. A diverse cohort of fellows is important. This diversity enables students to learn from each other and explore the systematic connections among diverse academic disciplines, lived experiences, and community and place. Using the Ohio Fellows as a model, workshop participants will create a plan of action to help establish, implement and assess similar programs in their home institutions. Consequently, using their home communities as a lived classroom for learning, workshop participants will work toward the following outcomes: To identify places/spaces of tension within their own community; To explore the systemic social, political, economic, and environmental connections surrounding place; and, To develop plans for active learning to foster a life-long awareness of place and how we are dynamic participants within place.