Overview of Community-Engaged Teaching & Learning
Community-engaged courses combine learning goals and community service in ways that can enhance both student growth and the common good. This approach is sometimes called "Service Learning" and is a high-impact practice that can create meaningful learning experiences for all students.
Community Engagement Defined
NIU defines community engagement as:
"Community engagement is an intentional collaboration between partners who unite their expertise and resources in a shared vision for the public good. Community engagement is nurtured in a spirit of mutual benefit, reciprocity and shared leadership. It enriches scholarship, research, and artistry. It enhances teaching and learning, addresses critical societal issues and strengthens democratic values. Community engagement takes place here at home and within our global community."
Principles and Characteristics of Community-Engaged Teaching
- Faculty and students collaborate with a community partner (e.g., nonprofit organization, business, campus partner, government entity, etc.).
- Students engage with issues relevant to the community partner to integrate theory with practice.
- Engagement is mutually beneficial to faculty, students and community partners.
- Students reflect on their learning and growth as a result of the experience.
- Community engaged courses address at least one learning outcome in two of the four Community Engaged Learning Goals(knowledge, skills, disposition, participation).
Courses that meet these criteria can be designated as a Community Engaged Course in MyNIU.
Benefits of Community-Engaged Learning
Students
- Positive impact on students’ academic learning
- Improved ability to apply what they have learned to real-world contexts
- Positive impact on complexity of understanding, problem analysis, problem-solving, critical thinking and cognitive development
- Improved ability to understand complexity and ambiguity
- Greater sense of personal efficacy, identity, spiritual growth and moral development
- Greater interpersonal development, including collaboration, leadership and communication skills
- Improved social responsibility and citizenship skills
Faculty
- Satisfaction with the quality of student learning and teaching effectiveness
- New avenues for research and publication
- Improved sense of impact and connection to community
Community
- Valuable human resources needed to achieve community goals
- New energy, enthusiasm and perspectives applied to community work
- Networking opportunities with students as prospective employees or ongoing volunteers
Timeline for Developing a Community-Engaged Course
Developing a community-engaged course takes more time than a traditional course. Here are some key milestones to think about:
- Learn about community-engaged learning
- Establish relationships with potential community partners
- Identify learning outcomes for the community-engaged learning experience, including at least two outcomes from the community-engaged learning goals
- Meet with community partner(s) to co-develop the community-engaged project(s) or experience(s)
- Design course assessments, integrating community-engaged activities, deliverables, and reflection activities
- Identify course materials
- Draft syllabus
- Section-level designation: Submit the online self-evaluation form to designate an upcoming course section as a community-engaged course; course will be designated for a single semester only. Requests are due…
- Course-level designation: Follow the curriculum process for proposal and approval; course will remain designated in MyNIU until the department requests to remove that designation. Course-level designation will require all instructors who teach a course to meet the criteria as a community-engaged course. Course-level designations are evaluated on a three-year cycle.
- Send introductory message to students about the course and the community-engaged requirements
- Finalize assignments and instructions for students
- Agree on contact dates/meetings with community partner(s)
- Share syllabus with community partner
- Week 1: Begin preparing students for community-engaged activities
- Throughout semester: Check-in with students and community partner(s) frequently on progress
- Mid-semester: Collect feedback from students and community partner(s)
- End of semester: Assess student outcomes (content & reflection)
- Debrief with community partner(s)
- Send thank you note to community partner(s)
- Reflect on and make notes (for yourself) on impact, outcomes, and potential changes for future offerings
- (Optional) Further analyze outcomes and community/partner impact for publication/presentation, with community partner(s) permission
Portions of this guide were developed by the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching and Boise State University Service Learning. They have been adapted for NIU by the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning and are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.