Bridging Troubled Waters

In contrast with traditional pedagogical approaches to higher education that are isolating and didactic in nature, a progressive educational approach responds to students' changing needs and redefines the university's role in contemporary society. Two innovative George Mason University initiatives are described to illustrate and analyze the strengths and challenges of alternative approaches that have been designed to better meet the changing needs of the students and communities they serve. In both cases, the traditional classroom is redefined as a learning community and is built around a philosophy of teaching and learning that emphasizes interdisciplinary and democratic collaboration, reflective practice, relations between theory and practical applications, and a commitment to continuous improvement. The authors discuss the highly participatory, interdisciplinary environment, intense faculty-student interaction, strong sense of community, intense collaborative work, interconnections between theory and experience, expectations of students, and demands of technology, as well as the challenges beyond the classroom.