External resources on experiential learning

In this section, you’ll find lists of academic journals, books, magazines, and associations that focus on experiential learning or contain related content in this area. These resources can be useful for digging deeper into specific topics.

Journals

This list includes many of the academic journals on experiential learning and community engagement. These publications also could be potential outlets for publishing your research.

Experiential Learning and Teaching Journals

Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education: A Journal for Engaged Educators

  • Publisher: Nova Southeastern University; National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE)
  • Website: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/elthe/
  • Availability: Issues posted on journal’s website.

Description (from website): Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education: A Journal for Engaged Educators (ELTHE) focuses on concepts, practices, and scholarship documenting experiential education. Inquiries and submissions are accepted at any time. ELTHE is an indexed academic journal published semi-annually by Nova Southeastern University in cooperation with the National Society for Experiential Education. The ELTHE editorial board welcomes the submission of scholarly work and reports relating to the study, practice, and effectiveness of experiential learning and teaching in higher education. The journal is a publication representing a range of interests and is receptive to a variety of topics, whether general or specific. All scholarly methods and theoretical perspectives, so long as they contribute to readers’ knowledge about experiential learning and/or teaching within higher education, are accepted. The ideal ELTHE submission addresses a significant problem or approach, draws out the implications of its findings clearly, and engages the attention of its audience through a concise, readable presentation.

Innovative Higher Education 

Description (from website): Innovative Higher Education is a refereed scholarly journal that strives to package fresh ideas in higher education in a straightforward and readable fashion. The four main purposes of Innovative Higher Education are: (1) to present descriptions and evaluations of current innovations and provocative new ideas with relevance for action beyond the immediate context in higher education; (2) to focus on the effect of such innovations on teaching and students; (3) to be open to diverse forms of scholarship and research methods by maintaining flexibility in the selection of topics deemed appropriate for the journal; and (4) to strike a balance between practice and theory by presenting manuscripts in a readable and scholarly manner to both faculty and administrators in the academic community.

International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement

Description (from website): The IJRSLCE is a peer-reviewed online journal dedicated to the publication of high-quality research focused on service-learning, campus-community engagement, and the promotion of active and effective citizenship through education.

Journal of Experiential Education

Description (from website): The Journal of Experiential Education (JEE) is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing refereed articles on experiential education in diverse contexts. The JEE provides a forum for the empirical and theoretical study of issues concerning experiential learning, program management and policies, educational, developmental, and health outcomes, teaching and facilitation, and research methodology. The JEE is a publication of the Association for Experiential Education.

Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement

Description (from website): The mission of the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement is to serve as the premier peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal to advance theory and practice related to all forms of outreach and engagement between higher education institutions and communities. This includes highlighting innovative endeavors; critically examining emerging issues, trends, challenges, and opportunities; and reporting on studies of impact in the areas of public service, outreach, engagement, extension, engaged research, community-based research, community-based participatory research, action research, public scholarship, service-learning, and community service

Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education

Description (from website): The Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education is an online, international, peer-reviewed journal for the dissemination of original research regarding effective institutional-community partnerships. Our primary emphasis is to provide an outlet for sharing the methodologies and pedagogical approaches that lead to effective community-identified outcomes. The Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education is a subscription-free journal with a review board made up of various academic disciplines of the member institutions of the University of Louisiana System as well as other nationally and internationally accredited colleges and universities and affiliated organizations.

Journal of the Scholarship and Teaching and Learning

Description (from website): JoSoTL aims to address contemporary issues bridging teaching and learning in higher education, philosophical approaches to teaching, current research, and praxis. The journal publishes empirical research, case studies, essays, critiques, and articles of a theoretical/conceptual nature that contribute to deeper understanding of the issues, problems, and research relevant to the community of reflective teacher-scholars. Submissions must transcend disciplinary relevance as the journal's readership is inter-disciplinary.

Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning

Description (from website): The Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning is an open access, peer-reviewed journal with authors and readers around the world. It publishes research, theory, and pedagogy pertinent to service-learning and civic and community engagement. As the publisher of MJCSL, we respond to the continuously emerging challenges we encounter in our communities by advancing innovative and interdisciplinary scholarship that informs and enhances the practice of community engagement. MJCSL is a crucial part of our mission to promote transformational student learning and community impact through campus-community partnerships. 

Undergraduate Journal of Service Learning and Community-Based Research

Description (from website): The Undergraduate Journal of Service Learning and Community-Based Research, a new, refereed, multidisciplinary, online undergraduate journal that will advance knowledge in new scholarly arenas by presenting intellectual and reflective work by undergraduates.  

Note: This journal could be an opportunity for publishing student research.

Community-Based Journals Related to Experiential Learning

Collaborations: A Journal of Community-based Research and Practice  

Description (from website): Collaborations: A Journal of Community-based Research and Practice is a peer-reviewed, open access journal, sponsored by the University of Miami and Rutgers University. It is a site for sharing research and practice emanating from university-community collaborations. It was created to highlight research that describes, examines, and evaluates the many different forms of university-community collaborations. This includes the development of theory to guide effective research and service collaborations, and the outcomes of collaborations that have implications for policy, practice, and public scholarship.

Community Development 

Description (from website): Community Development is the peer-reviewed journal of the Community Development Society. Community Development is devoted to improving knowledge and practice in the field of purposive community change. The mission of the journal is to advance critical theory, research, and practice in all domains of community development, including sociocultural, political, environmental, and economic. The journal welcomes manuscripts that report research; evaluate theory, methods, and techniques; examine community problems; or critically analyze the profession itself. Articles may address current issues including the environment and sustainability; food systems; land use; poverty; race, ethnicity, and gender; participation and social justice; economic development; health; housing; and other important topics impacting the field.

Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 

Description (from website): Education, Citizenship and Social Justice provides a strategic forum for international and multi-disciplinary dialogue for all academic educators and educational policymakers concerned with the meanings and form of citizenship and social justice as these are realized throughout the time spent in educational institutions.

Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement

Description (from website): Gateways is a refereed journal concerned with the practice and processes of university-community engagement. It provides a forum for academics, practitioners, and community representatives to explore issues and reflect on practices relating to the full range of engaged activity. The journal publishes evaluative case studies of community engagement initiatives; analyses of the policy environment; and theoretical reflections that contribute to the scholarship of engagement. Gateways is jointly edited and managed by the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, and The Swearer Center for Public Service, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Description (from website): The Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education is an online, open access, refereed journal concerned with exploring community engagement and community-based learning perspective, research, and practice. The JCEHE encourages manuscript submissions in which the authors have considered diversity, equity, and inclusion in the planning and writing of their work.

Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship

  • Publisher: The University of Alabama
  • Website: http://jces.ua.edu/
  • Availability: Journal’s website and IC Library’s journal database.

Description (from website): The Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship (JCES) is a peer-reviewed international journal through which faculty, staff, students, and community partners disseminate scholarly works. JCES integrates teaching, research, and community engagement in all disciplines, addressing critical problems identified through a community-participatory process.

Journal of College and Character 

Description (from website): Journal of College and Character is a professional journal that examines how colleges and universities influence the moral and civic learning and behavior of students. Published quarterly, the journal features scholarly articles and applied research on issues related to ethics, values, and character development in a higher education setting.

Books

Available Books Online

This list includes books available online from IC’s Library on service learning.

Other Books of Interest

This list includes a collection of books, which are not available at Ithaca College’s Library, focusing on experiential learning and other topics related to the area.

  • Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Lovett, M. C., & Norman, M. K. (2010). How learning works: 7 research-based principles for smart teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass.
  • Butin, D. (2010). Service-Learning in Higher Education: Critical Issues and Directions. New York City, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Dolgon, C. (2019). The Cambridge Handbook of Service Learning and Community Engagement. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
  • Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
  • Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.
  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E.  (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New York City, NY: Cambridge University.
  • Linn, P. L., Howard, A., and Miller, E. (Eds). (2004). The handbook for research in cooperative education and internships. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Moore, D. T. (2010). Forms and issues in experiential learning. In D. M. Qualters (Ed.) New Directions for Teaching and Learning (pp. 3-13). New York City, NY: Wiley.
  • Stoecker, R. (2016). Liberating Service Learning and the Rest of Higher Education Civic Engagement. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
  • Wurdinger, D. D., & Carlson, J. A. (2010). Teaching for experiential learning: Five approaches that work. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Magazines and Newsletters

This list includes a digital magazine and a newsletter/blog related to community-based and service learning.

Compact Current

Description (from website): Campus Compact’s newsletter (and blog) for organizations and institutions involved in public and community service.

National Civic Review 

Description (from website): Its cases studies, reports, interviews, and essays help communities learn about the latest developments in collaborative problems-solving, civic engagement, local government innovation and democratic governance. Some of the country’s leading doers and thinkers have contributed articles to this invaluable resource for elected officials, public managers, nonprofit leaders, grassroots activists, and public administration scholars seeking to make America’s communities more inclusive, participatory, innovative, and successful.

Associations and Coalitions

This list includes associations and coalitions on experiential learning and civic engagement.

Association for Experiential Education

Description (from website): The Association of Experiential Education (AEE) is a global membership community comprised of experiential educators, practitioners, inquirers, researchers, and students with the shared goal of elevating the field of Experiential Education. The Association for Experiential Education is a membership organization that strives to elevate and expand the global capacity of Experiential Education. AEE is committed to supporting professional development, theoretical advancement, and the evaluation of Experiential Education Worldwide. 

Note: Hosts regional and annual conferences.

Campus Compact

Description (from website): Campus Compact is a national coalition of 1,000+ colleges and universities committed to the public purposes of higher education. Its builds democracy through civic education and community development.

Note: Offers webinars and website contains many resources.

Engagement Scholarship Consortium

Description (from website): The Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC), a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit educational organization, is composed of higher education member institutions, a mix of state-public and private institutions. Its goal is to work collaboratively to build strong university-community partnerships anchored in the rigor of scholarship and designed to help build community capacity.

Note: Hosts annual and regional conferences.

National Society for Experiential Education

Description (from website): National Society for Experiential Education is a nonprofit membership organization composed of educators, businesses, and community leaders. Founded in 1971, NSEE also serves as a national resource center for the development and improvement of experiential education programs nationwide. The Vision of the National Society for Experiential Education is the establishment of effective methods of experiential education as fundamental to the development of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that empower learners and promote the common good.

Note: Hosts an annual conference.