CRP was-is-will be here : sustaining an academic service-learning approach to planning instruction

The Community and Regional Planning program of the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture (UTSOA-CRP) has made course-integrated community-based project work (CCPW) a key - if not a requisite, component of its classroom-based teaching and planning instruction. Often referred to as academic service-learning, the pedagogy of incorporating community-based project work with classroom instruction is recognized to have significant benefits for college students, faculty members, institutions, and communities. More specifically, this teaching approach is understood to have substantial advantages in planning instruction. This professional report attempts to offer recommendations towards addressing the question of how a CCPW, or academic service-learning, approach to planning instruction can best be sustained and/or enhanced by the UTSOA-CRP program. Ideally, this report will add to the growing body of literature and research related to academic service-learning in planning instruction, while offering the CRP program useful tools and resources to consider in program design, implementation, evaluation, and planning.