Community-Based Adult Learning Research in Australia and Canada: A Review Essay

Abstract

From opposite sides of the world, scholars in two universities have produced books that reflect on the adult learning involved when universities undertake community-based research. Each book combines case studies of actual projects with some reflection on the nature of this work as a distinct field of research practice within universities of the Global North. In Australia, the researchers were located in the rural city of Toowoomba, on a campus of the University of Southern Queensland, while in Canada, the host institution was the University of Victoria in British Colombia. The editors of both collections argue strongly for the importance of community-based research, and they locate their initiatives in a global trend toward greater engagement between universities and the specific geographical locations in which they are situated.