Opening the classroom: the connection between teaching, research and community cooperation

Abstract

This paper is the result of collegiate reflection of a research team on our practice and teaching design in the context of a higher education project, in which we link the work beyond the classroom in the learning process of students and teachers. The central axis of our work is the concept and practice of open classroom as a link between education, research and community cooperation that transforms university neighborhood environments in an extension of the classroom. In the first part, we present the initial challenges of the intervention project and our re-learning as teachers and students of the UACM, telling the integration of a research and training and methodological challenges, which rarely include but are essential qualitative part of the research process. Then we present the three central conception of our practice: open classroom as a flexible space open to community (inside and outside university), based on building a culture of dialogue and reflection on the ways we have learned to be teachers and students in school; the central role of teacher collegiality and interdisciplinary character of teaching and learning processes, both requirements for building horizontal relationships; and an strategy that creates an inner link between professional development, research practice and community cooperation. Finally, we propose to rethink the meaning of public university, especially in societies with multiple gaps, through researching and transforming urban spaces that surround its walls.