Teaching Sociology Through Community-Engaged Learning with a Multinational Student Body: Garnering Sociological Insights from Lived Experiences Across National Contexts

Katherine Lyon ()
Additional contact information
Katherine Lyon: Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada

Social Sciences, 2025, vol. 14, issue 7, 1-10

Abstract: Community-engaged learning (CEL) is a popular educational approach for sociology teaching across Canada and globally. Students in sociology courses with this experiential component can opt in to enhance their learning by working with community members and organizations in structured, low-stakes ways that forward community priorities. Evidence shows that CEL in sociology courses supports students in developing a wide variety of skills. However, little is known about how international students in sociology courses engage with this pedagogy. Drawing on 20 semi-structured interviews with international students from Asia, South America, and Eastern Europe who completed CEL programming as part of their sociology course curriculum at a large Canadian university, I show how these students engaged in unique learning practices. The findings indicate that international students draw upon their life experiences from diverse national contexts to navigate and reflect upon their CEL placement in sociological ways. These students’ voices offer rich insights for sociology educators designing course-based CEL opportunities with a multinational student body.

Keywords: community-engaged learning; internationalization; international students; asset-based approach; introduction to sociology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/7/436/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/14/7/436/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:14:y:2025:i:7:p:436-:d:1702835

Access Statistics for this article

Social Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Yvonne Chu

More articles in Social Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().