Community Engagement as part of Engaged Learning

Christopher McCordCollege of Liberal Arts & Sciences

November 12, 2010

Curricular EngagementCarnegie Foundation definition of Curricular

Engagement:Curricular Engagement describes the teaching,

learning and scholarship that engages faculty, students, and community in mutually beneficial and respectful collaboration. Their interactions address community identified needs, deepen students’ civic and academic learning, enhance community well-being, and enrich the scholarship of the institution.

Curricular Engagement

Key Elements:• External partner (typically local or

regional)• Mutuality in setting agenda• Mutuality in deriving benefitsVariable or Optional Elements:• Can involve faculty, staff and/or students• Can involve research, teaching and/or

service missions

Engaged Learning

“Engaged Learning” encompasses any educational activity that falls outside of traditional classroom setting, and complements that classroom experience by “living the discipline”. Engaged learning activities consciously connect experiences outside of the classroom with the learning that occurs in the classroom, and involve faculty and staff either in the experience itself, or in the process of connection.

Engaged LearningKey Elements:• Must involve students in an active role• Involves activities outside of traditional classroom

pedagogy• Connects those activities to the curriculum, grounds

them in that curriculumVariable or Optional Elements:• Can be internal to the campus or involve an external

engagement• Can involve research, teaching and/or service missions

Engaged LearningEngaged Learning activities include:• Student Research & Artistry• Applied Research & Consulting• Study Abroad & Field Schools• Conferences & Competitions• Internships & Service Learning• Student Teaching & Clinicals

Engaged Learning: Student Research• The College funds the

Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program, which provides funds to faculty to add undergraduates to their research projects

• The University funds Undergraduate Special Opportunities in Artistry & Research, which funds student-generated research projects.

• The University hosts an Undergraduate Research Day

Engaged Learning: Student Research• About half of the

undergraduates in Biology take advantage of research opportunities

• The Department of Chemistry requires a research experience for all of its ACS-accredited tracks.

• The high energy group in the Department of Physics supports students through an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates

Engaged Learning: Student Research• Students in Media Studies have

produced a variety of documentaries, public service announcements and advertising videos.

• The Department of History requires a research capstone experience that focuses on local & regional public history.

• Graduate students in an English seminar produced an edition of Patrick Branwell Bronte's previously unpublished manuscript The History of the Young Men for Juvenilia Press.

Engaged Learning: Consulting• Statistics operates Statistical

Consulting Service, staffed by MS students w/ faculty oversight

• Geography offers BS capstone courses based on consulting projects in GIS and meteorology

• Computer Science places BS and MS students in Research & Development Internships

• Mathematics requires an Applications Component for all PhD students

Engaged Learning: Study Abroad & Field Schools Summer 2010 Field Schools and Study

Abroad Programs in– Archaeological Field School in

Sicily (ANTH)– Cultural Field School in

Cambodia (ANTH)– NIU at Oxford (BIOS, ENGL,

POLS)– Media & Culture in Ireland

(COMS, ENGL, HIST)– Spanish Language & Culture in

Toledo, Spain (FLAL)– Environmental Geology (GEOL)– Geologic Field Techniques

(GEOL)– History & Culture of Malaysia

(HIST)– Cyprus, Turkey and the US

(HIST)– Sierra Leone: African

Democracy and Socio-Economic Development (SOCI)

Engaged Learning: Conferences & Competitions

• The NIU soil judging team (Clint Bailey, Norm Yackle, Aaron Browning & Amber Singer) placed 5th overall in the American Society of Agronomy National Soil Judging.

• Zach Schmitt (GEOG) was awarded Honorable Mention in the Student Division of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping's 2010 Design Competition .

• Michael Bramnik (GEOL, HIST) has won a national conference award from the Geological Society of America for his research paper on the role of water in the formation of Jerusalem as a capital city.

• Phillip Librojo (POLS) won the Outstanding Delegate award at the 50th annual Midwest Model United Nations Conference, and Shehzad Merchant (POLS) won the Outstanding Delegate Award American Model United Nations conference

ChallengesFunding• Students who struggle with affordability may have limited ability

to participate in extra (unfunded) activities• Engaged learning activities are time-intensive; there is a cost

associated with faculty and staff engagement in such activitiesFaculty Engagement• Making engaged learning intentional , so that faculty consciously

“connect the dots” in the activities they’re already engaged in.• Engaged learning activities need to be part of the promotion &

tenure, merit & other “reward & regard” systemsVisibility• Ensuring that students are aware of all of the engaged learning

activities that are available to them