Disrupting the Traditional Learning Paradigm: Place-Based Learning as Transformational Space

Abstract

Place-based learning may be one of the disruptive innovations called for by Randy Bass in his keynote address, Architecture of the Unexpected: Beyond the Learning Paradigm. Place-based learning goes beyond the learning paradigm by challenging students to partner with community members in a specific place, to learn through interacting with the people and spaces, and to think like agents of change. Working as co-designers, faculty, students, and community stakeholders become partners to promote learning and transformation of individuals and places. Using place-based learning in the university setting facilitates the application of global, generalizable knowledge to the specifics of local people and places, creating hope for solutions that address the locali realities of the world’s wicked challenges.