What is Engaged Learning?

Engaged learning at the University of Michigan is a co-curricular approach where students actively participate in meaning, hands-on experiences that connect classroom theory to real-world practice at the local, national and global levels. Through service learning, community partnerships, global collaboration and more, engaged learning promotes active citizens who are committed to a positive social change.

Dedicated to promoting  interdisciplinary work that crosses our academic disciplines and brings together multiple modes of thought and approaches to knowing and engagement of our faculty, staff, and students with authentic stakeholders in our work, to both inform and guide the work with these stakeholders’ own knowledge and understanding and to realize their own opportunities through the conduct of the work.

Twenty-first-century problems will not be solved with twentieth-century skills alone or within traditional academic disciplinary domains in the ivory tower. Faculty, staff, students, and community members all play a critical role in addressing these challenges and making our world better. We all share a commitment to positive change pursued in partnership — across the disciplines, with the community, and around the world.