Community-engaged Courses

Faculty

Graduate and undergraduate courses can be designated as community-engaged through an approval process managed by the Graduate Council and Baccalaureate Council, respectively. 

Once implemented, students will be able to see community-engaged course designation in MyNIU and in the graduate catalog and undergraduate catalog. 

Paths for Community-engaged (CE) Course Designation 

For courses or sections to be offered as soon as fall 2025, please complete this application. 

A course can achieve designation at the section level or the course level. Once course-level designation is received, there is no need for section-level designation as all sections would have course-level designation. 

Section-level Designation 

Faculty will be able to apply to designate their course section as a community-engaged course through an online self-evaluation form. The designation will appear in MyNIU for that semester only. 

Approved Courses 

• NNGO 302: Introduction to Research in Non-Governmental Organizations and Communities: (fall 2025) 
• COMS 496R:  Special Topics in Rhetoric (spring 2026) 

Course-level Designation 

Faculty may apply through the new curriculum process for curriculum proposal and approval. Course-level designation will require all instructors who teach a course to meet the criteria as a community-engaged course. It would remain designated in MyNIU until such time as the department requests to remove that designation. 

These courses will be evaluated on a three-year cycle so the CE designation can be removed if the course no longer adheres to the requirements. 

Designation Requirements

To be designated, the course must include all course components, identify and assess student learning outcomes and comply with evaluation including student assessment and community partner feedback. 

Course Components 

To be designated, courses must include the following four components:

• Evidence of working with a community partner (nonprofit organization, business, campus partner, government entity, etc.)
• Students are engaging with issues relevant to the community partner, integrating theory with practice.
• The engagement is intentional and has mutual benefit for the community partner and the students.
• Students use guided reflection to identify and explain their learning and growth as a result of the experience.

Learning Outcomes 

To be designated, the course must include at least one learning outcome in two of four Community Engaged Learning Goals (knowledge, skills, disposition, participation) and the instructor must describe how each learning outcome will be assessed in the course. 

Please review our Community Engaged Learning Goals rubric for more information. VALUE rubrics for each of the 10 learning outcomes are available from the American Association of Colleges and Universities. 

Evaluation 

When submitting a course for designation, the instructor will provide details about how assessment and feedback will be gathered from students and the community partner(s). Community partner feedback will be requested annually and reported to the Baccalaureate Council in an online form.

Student assessment data would include the addition of a question(s) related on the learning outcome(s) chosen to the existing course evaluation.