Teaching and Learning Communication Process as Community-based Transdisciplinary Inquiry

This article discusses experiences in teaching and learning communication processes oriented towards social change and development, specifically, using the approach known as community service learning (CSL). The relevance of CSL is that it mobilizes university students as communicators and seeks to develop global consciousness through transdisciplinary inquiry with local communities. Using the case of an undergraduate course at the University of Guelph (Canada) involving 33 CSL individual and team projects, this article reinforces the importance of experiential learning for teaching and learning communication process. In light of policy-level calls for the reform of higher education to meet social change and development needs, CSL provides an interesting opportunity, but it also encounters distinct challenges within our academic institutions and for those of us who teach and mentor university students.