The planning practicum is a required course in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. In this course, students apply the knowledge, skills, and values they acquired in the MURP program to a real-world project. The course features a client project with clearly defined deliverables and typically requires community/public engagement. Students work in teams to assist a client (a public agency or a non-profit or community organization) with research, analysis, and recommendations for a project. It is well-established that field-based learning can advance the values and goals of professional education. For educators, the important question is: how can we assess such learning to improve community-university endeavors so that they are mutually beneficial partnerships. This project developed an assessment tool for a practicum/service-learning course by reviewing the literature on service-learning in the planning and design fields, examining similar efforts in peer programs, and engaging faculty, students, and practitioners.
Recommended Citation:
Das, P. (2021, April). Assessing the planning practicum: Lessons for engaged scholarship. Poster session presented at the Assessment for Curricular Improvement Poster Exhibit at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI.