Alice's Story:
The first time I took a group of students to walk down the street of a business district, I realized how much their perspectives were informed by their past experiences as consumers -- I realized that they had not learned to see a community through the lens of a concerned citizen or business owner. They had not learned to 'see' through the lens of the conceptual frameworks they were learning at university. As we walked, met locals, and discussed the street, guided by my questions to see things differently, a transformation took place. Instead of noticing the souvenirs in a shop window and the price-tags on clothes, they noticed the issues the shops and restaurants had to contend with. Afterwards, an education student who was taking the entrepreneurship class said to me, "I've never met an entrepreneur before. My whole family is teachers and government workers. After today, I think I could be an entrepreneur." I believe that learning to see things differently, to walk in another person's shoes, is critical to individual growth and to learning concepts foreign to a student's background, and Street Challenge has been a powerful pedagogy that allows me to bring clarity and relevance to the students' understanding of course concepts.
After that first time, I continue to explore the community as a place to explore how concepts work in context. Many tools and assignments that we have used are familiar ideas, and some are newly developed exercises; what differs in in Street Challenge is rooting the exercises in one or two local communities in a rich, interconnected way, which helps connect the conceptual lessons and practical applications into a richer, interconnected understanding of the course concepts. The students learn to see the communities through different lens, and as a result they see their world differently. The community embedded courses improves students’ understanding of both the relevance and the content of the course materials clearer.
John's Story:
I can distinctly recall the first conversation Alice and I had as office neighbours about my intent to take students downtown to learn about entrepreneurship. I grew up in a small town with a defined main street that reflected the heart and soul of the community. As the town changed, the business mix and "feel" of downtown did as well. My father was our town's mayor when I began university studies as an urban studies major, and he and I talked often about why paying attention to downtown mattered. As a student, I was involved in our downtown revitalization effort, and I was able to have a significant role interacting with local politicians, business leaders, and community members as we went through a visioning process. That experience had a profound impact on me. I became an entrepreneur soon after, operating a consulting firm, and those lessons learned on main street stuck with me.
I wanted to provide my students similar opportunities to think about how communities and businesses interact with and support one another, and give them a similar chance to develop confidence and agency as I'd had. Alice was enthusiastic about the idea, and I secured a mini-grant from the university, which paid for transportation and lunch to take students on a weekend day trip to Gloucester, Massachusetts. The students responded positively to the experience, and remarked that the abstract concepts from class were much more tangible as a result. One wrote in a reflection that "Getting to know local business owners is important, it gives you an idea of who your neighbors will be and an opportunity to learn about what it is like to be a business owner. I had the opportunity to speak to one owner, who was very kind and curious as to what our class was about and also gave me a little insight into the business district. She said it is important to stay open all year in order to remain stable. She also said that the businesses tend to work together to get their voices heard and to make changes in the community to help nurture and grow new and old businesses."
As we've refined the pedagogy to be more rigorous and critically reflective, we have been better able to see how helping students discover a sense of place also helps them discover a sense of self. For me, that links back to my own experience as a 20-year old undergraduate who had a unique chance to use my hometown as a learning laboratory. As a result of that experience I developed confidence, competence, and a self-concept that helped me to be successful. When we talked in Alice's office that first day, we were both excited to see if we could create something meaningful that would lower an access barrier and allow students to get that same exposure and experience that I'd had. It's heartening to see that happen for our students as well.
The first time I took a group of students to walk down the street of a business district, I realized how much their perspectives were informed by their past experiences as consumers -- I realized that they had not learned to see a community through the lens of a concerned citizen or business owner. They had not learned to 'see' through the lens of the conceptual frameworks they were learning at university. As we walked, met locals, and discussed the street, guided by my questions to see things differently, a transformation took place. Instead of noticing the souvenirs in a shop window and the price-tags on clothes, they noticed the issues the shops and restaurants had to contend with. Afterwards, an education student who was taking the entrepreneurship class said to me, "I've never met an entrepreneur before. My whole family is teachers and government workers. After today, I think I could be an entrepreneur." I believe that learning to see things differently, to walk in another person's shoes, is critical to individual growth and to learning concepts foreign to a student's background, and Street Challenge has been a powerful pedagogy that allows me to bring clarity and relevance to the students' understanding of course concepts.
After that first time, I continue to explore the community as a place to explore how concepts work in context. Many tools and assignments that we have used are familiar ideas, and some are newly developed exercises; what differs in in Street Challenge is rooting the exercises in one or two local communities in a rich, interconnected way, which helps connect the conceptual lessons and practical applications into a richer, interconnected understanding of the course concepts. The students learn to see the communities through different lens, and as a result they see their world differently. The community embedded courses improves students’ understanding of both the relevance and the content of the course materials clearer.
John's Story:
I can distinctly recall the first conversation Alice and I had as office neighbours about my intent to take students downtown to learn about entrepreneurship. I grew up in a small town with a defined main street that reflected the heart and soul of the community. As the town changed, the business mix and "feel" of downtown did as well. My father was our town's mayor when I began university studies as an urban studies major, and he and I talked often about why paying attention to downtown mattered. As a student, I was involved in our downtown revitalization effort, and I was able to have a significant role interacting with local politicians, business leaders, and community members as we went through a visioning process. That experience had a profound impact on me. I became an entrepreneur soon after, operating a consulting firm, and those lessons learned on main street stuck with me.
I wanted to provide my students similar opportunities to think about how communities and businesses interact with and support one another, and give them a similar chance to develop confidence and agency as I'd had. Alice was enthusiastic about the idea, and I secured a mini-grant from the university, which paid for transportation and lunch to take students on a weekend day trip to Gloucester, Massachusetts. The students responded positively to the experience, and remarked that the abstract concepts from class were much more tangible as a result. One wrote in a reflection that "Getting to know local business owners is important, it gives you an idea of who your neighbors will be and an opportunity to learn about what it is like to be a business owner. I had the opportunity to speak to one owner, who was very kind and curious as to what our class was about and also gave me a little insight into the business district. She said it is important to stay open all year in order to remain stable. She also said that the businesses tend to work together to get their voices heard and to make changes in the community to help nurture and grow new and old businesses."
As we've refined the pedagogy to be more rigorous and critically reflective, we have been better able to see how helping students discover a sense of place also helps them discover a sense of self. For me, that links back to my own experience as a 20-year old undergraduate who had a unique chance to use my hometown as a learning laboratory. As a result of that experience I developed confidence, competence, and a self-concept that helped me to be successful. When we talked in Alice's office that first day, we were both excited to see if we could create something meaningful that would lower an access barrier and allow students to get that same exposure and experience that I'd had. It's heartening to see that happen for our students as well.