Making a difference: assessing the long-term impacts for students of active learning pedagogies

Active learning has a long heritage in Geography and allied subjects, and many claims are made about its benefits. This article attempts a long run assessment of these benefits, drawing on a survey of 180 respondents who graduated from a capstone Geography course over a 15-year period. The course focuses on community-based research and depends on the development and curation of an ecosystem of students, academic staff mentors, community partners and university managers. It is designed to enable students to make a difference, whilst gaining experience of working in groups, managing time and expectations, and workplace preparation. The paper assesses impacts on respondents in the long term, rather than the more usual results of course surveys conducted at the time. The context of the course is notable, as it began one year before the Canterbury earthquake sequence, which sharpened both community need and opportunity for such learning methods. The insights gained from developing and running the course over the period of time in question are outlined.