Community Engagement as part
of Engaged Learning
Christopher McCord
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
November 12, 2010
Curricular Engagement
Carnegie 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 benefits
Variable 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 Learning
Key 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 curriculum
Variable or Optional Elements:
• Can be internal to the campus or involve an external
engagement
• Can involve research, teaching and/or service missions
Engaged Learning
Engaged 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
Challenges
Funding
• 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 activities
Faculty 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” systems
Visibility
• Ensuring that students are aware of all of the engaged learning
activities that are available to them