Engaging the City: Civic Participation and Teaching Urban History.

Building on a long history of community outreach in higher education, many colleges and universities are taking a more intentional approach to civic engagement. As urban higher education institutions strive to become better neighbors, urban history courses have a valuable role to play in generating research, building connections between the campus and the community, and engaging students in the cities where they study. Using a course-based living-learning community as a case study, this article demonstrates the way an urban history course at the University of Richmond links pedagogy and community engagement. Through "learning out" assignments that include producing a documentary on a local social issue within a national historical context and blogging, students share what they are learning with others outside the class with the aim of urging action for social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]