Designing a CSL course around a single theme asks something fundamentally different from both educators and students. The theme does not start in the curriculum. It starts in the community. A neighbourhood signals a need, a city district identifies a challenge, and the university responds by organising its educational offering around that issue.
This is the core idea behind the thematic approach to CSL, as described by Tijsma, Urias and Zweekhorst (2021). Rather than individual courses working in isolation, multiple courses and internships from different programmes contribute to addressing one complex societal problem over a longer period of time. The result benefits all parties involved: students develop a deeper sense of ownership and motivation, community partners experience greater continuity, and knowledge built up in one course can carry over into the next.
In this Learning Lab, we use ICSL 2 as a central example to make this concrete. ICSL 2 is organised around different themes that reflect real and current societal questions. Students do not choose a theme based on personal preference alone. The themes are derived from what is actually at play in society, which changes the dynamic of the course considerably. It asks students to engage with issues that are not neatly defined, and to do so alongside partners who have a genuine stake in the outcome.
Together, we will look at how the thematic approach works in practice: how themes are selected, how partners are involved, and what this means for course design. We will also reflect on the conditions that make this approach viable, and the questions it raises for educators who want to explore it in their own context.
We will have two experts present their views during this Learning Lab:
Geertje Tijsma is a postdoctoral researcher at the Athena Institute, VU Amsterdam, where her work focuses on bridging science and society through co-created knowledge. Her PhD dissertation, "Embedding Engaged Education; Creating Knowledge Together," explores how to institutionalise engagement in higher education. She is one of the authors of the research that forms the foundation of this Learning Lab and has been involved in the development of CSL at VU from the very beginning.
Frederique Demeijer is an Assistant Professor of Transformative Learning for Inter- and Transdisciplinary Education at the Athena Institute, VU Amsterdam. Her research and teaching centre around complex societal issues such as belonging, institutional racism, and community engagement, and she investigates how to cultivate transdisciplinary competencies in students, educators, and societal stakeholders. She teaches in the iCSL1 and iCSL2 courses, bringing direct firsthand experience with the thematic approach to this session.
The research behind this session: Tijsma G, Urias E and Zweekhorst M (2021) A Thematic Approach to Realize Multidisciplinary Community Service-Learning Education to Address Complex Societal Problems: A-Win-Win-Win Situation?. Front. Educ. 5:617380. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2020.617380. Read it here
