KUAH Ting Ting
Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Centre (CTPCLC)
Kuah, T. T. (2024). Dialogue as community engagement: A potential tool for experiential learning [Lightning Talk]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-kuah
SUB-THEME
Opportunities from Engaging Communities
KEYWORDS
Dialogue, Community, Experiential, Transformation
CATEGORY
Lightning Talk
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Due to the dynamic and complex nature of communities where relationships are constantly evolving, the teaching of community development entails an incorporation of experiential learning, which David Kolb described as “the process where knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Kolb, 1984). To nurture students who are aspiring community developers or community leaders, they must be provided with community-based experiences involving interactions with individuals from diverse social settings during their learning. This is because community development is a “process through which people learn how they can help themselves” (Vincent, 2009), and consequently, the practice of community development requires one to develop the capacity for effective interpersonal communication; to be informed of the lived experiences of diverse individuals; to appreciate the nuanced applications of theoretical knowledge acquired in the classroom to a variety of real-world contexts.
One approach is to consider the significance of dialogue for community engagement. Dialogue can generally be defined as an “unfolding process” of knowledge-making between two or more parties, “usually through the medium of spoken language, but not excluding written and visual codes” (Rule, 2015). Scholars have recognised how dialogue is a key practice for community building, as it promotes the formation of social capital (Fisher et al., 2009) and enables people to “map, analyse and assess what assets they have and/or would like to have” (Westoby & Dowling, 2013). This is because dialogue is, fundamentally, an other-oriented and mutual exchange between individuals. This relational experience of dialogue thus makes it a viable tool for teaching and learning: students’ prior perspectives of a community issue and their relationship with the community can be deepened or even challenged, and a new, shared knowledge with others about this issue can be forged within the space of a dialogue.
This Lightning Talk shall discuss how dialogue is employed as a form of experiential learning in the context of my course, CLC2204 Community Development with Youth, at the Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Centre (CTPCLC). As part of their course projects, students are tasked to form teams and select a youth issue, before dialoguing with relevant stakeholders to gain an informed understanding to approach this issue. Some brief cases will be covered in this discussion.
REFERENCES
Fisher, K., J. Geenan, M. Jurcevic, K. McClintock, K., & Davis, G., (2008). Applying asset-based community development as a strategy for CSR: A canadian perspective on a win-win for stakeholders and SMEs. Business Ethics: A European Review, 18(1), 66–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8608.2009.01549.x
Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development (2nd ed). FT Press.
Rule, P. N. (2015) Dialogue and Boundary Learning. Sense Publishers.
Vincent II, J.W. (2014). Community development practice. In G. J. Robinson & G. S. Green (Eds.), An introduction to community development (2nd ed). Routledge.
Westoby, P. & Dowling, G. (2013). Theory and practice of dialogical community development: international perspectives (1st ed). Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203109946