Experiential Learning

Thinking about the role of social action in the language/culture classroom. I'm interested in thinking about social action in a community engagement/language for professions type course in the future.

PORT386 is a community-engaged experiential learning course that connects academic inquiry with meaningful social action. Through hands-on projects developed in partnership with community organizations, students apply theoretical knowledge to real-world contexts while addressing pressing social, cultural, and civic issues. The course emphasizes reciprocal engagement, ethical collaboration, and critical reflection, encouraging students to learn with and from community partners rather than merely about them.

Students will explore the social responsibilities of engaged scholarship, develop practical skills for community-based work, and examine issues of equity, power, and social justice that shape community partnerships. Structured reflection activities guide students in integrating experience with academic learning, personal growth, and professional development. By the end of the course, students will have contributed to community-identified goals while cultivating the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for active, informed participation in social change.

Brooke Parker

Lecturer of Portuguese

Spanish and Portuguese

University of Maryland, College Park