Community Writing has emerged as a relatively new subdiscipline that spans elements of larger fields such as Rhetoric and Writing Studies, Technical and Professional Communication, and Composition Pedagogy. Despite this recent emergence, teacher-scholars are still grappling with three major problematics traditionally associated with Community Engaged Learning (CEL) writ large: (1) this work frequently fails to address the real needs and basic material realities of community partners in favor of (2) a repetitive cycle of short-lived educational "experiences" for students, often without tangible and/or sustainable results, which is further exacerbated by (3) a shortage of useful data-driven assessment conducted on curriculum, pedagogy, and other community-oriented work within the discipline. To address these problematics, this dissertation proposes a methodological approach to teaching and assessing CEL courses based in assembly, remix, space, place, story, and practices from the Detroit Geographical Expedition and Institute. A pedagogical heuristic is described and then tested in an experimental course against a control. Student outcomes are assessed and discussed in relation to the heuristic's efficacy and future directions for research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]