ABSTRACT
The capstone field practicum (FP) carried out by MDP students has evolved from what was originally envisioned when the MDP was created, in part due to the broadening of the thematic and regional development agenda manifested in the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). MDP students have conducted their FPs in over 100 countries around the world with a wide array of organizations that host them, such as nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governmental and private sector entities, and community-based organizations. Through the FP, students immerse themselves in a transformative exercise of experiential learning requiring the application of knowledge, professional and socio-emotional skills, with varying degrees of structure and support. The result is a broad diversity of “field” engagement, scope of activities and methods applied, duration, and outcomes of fieldwork. The COVID 19 pandemic forced MDP programs to revise field training strategies, often shifting to the application of remote methods. The chapter proposes a modified version of Kolb’s model of experiential learning to better reflect the MDP FP, describing in some detail activities carried out in each phase of the model. Attention is also focused on common challenges faced by students during this formative experience and measures to mitigate them. Finally, an innovative FP approach termed “learning landscapes” is annexed to the chapter, which has been conducted by teams of students in Indonesia and British Columbia.
