Higher Education and Nonprofit Community Collaboration: Innovative Teaching and Learning for Graduate Student Education.

Current graduate student models of education reflect both traditional and contemporary pedagogical strategies. For professional degree programs centered on leadership and human services providing traditional instruction combined with experience-based and real-world learning is necessary. This paper shares a brief overview of graduate education pedagogy and a more in-depth description and review of a graduate course at a mid-sized private urban university. The course, Institutional Planning and Evaluation, marks a stark difference from most graduate courses: emphasizing practice-based learning and front-loading the materials so students can serve as consultants for a local nonprofit agency. The intentional design, based on accomplishing specific learning outcomes, was a positive learning experience for all constituents and is applicable to other graduate courses and programs.