Faculty
Faculty gain numerous professional benefits by integrating community engagement into their teaching and scholarship. Community-engaged teaching and learning deepens student learning through real-world applications, promotes active and reciprocal learning, and strengthens faculty-student relationships. It also helps align teaching, research, and service; fosters partnerships with community organizations; leverages community expertise; and expands faculty understanding of local issues and collaborative opportunities.
Steps to Create a Community-Engaged Course
A first step is to reflect on several key considerations:
1. Identify the community assets and desires that align with the courses you teach or hope to develop, as well as with the research you conduct or may wish to undertake.
2. Consider how a community partnership might benefit from your research and teaching, including the kinds of shared products that could result from such collaboration—such as faculty or student publications, community documents or studies, or public presentations.
3. Determine which community assets and/or desires are the best fit for the course you select, taking into account the course’s time frame, the students you hope to reach, and their skill level.
4. Clarify the skills you want students to develop and align your course objectives and assignments with those skills, noting how they contribute to the broader skill set your faculty aims to build through the major.
5. Assess whether you have existing relationships with organizations, small businesses, or governmental agencies addressing these community issues, and identify the type of group and region you would choose to work with if no such relationships currently exist.
Resources for Faculty
A Guide to Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning
The Craft of Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Faculty Development, by Marshall Welch and Star Plaxton-Moore
An interactive workbook that can be downloaded from Campus Compact accompanies this toolkit (Download link below) with interactive activities that are interspersed throughout the chapters.
TOOL KIT FOR CRAFTING COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: A Companion Guide for Professional Development
Campus Compact Community-Engaged Learning and Teaching Hub
This knowledge hub provides a curated collection of resources and readings focused on the effective design and facilitation of curricular community-engaged learning (service-learning) experiences that create meaningful benefits for both students and the community.
Syllabus Tips & Examples
To effectively integrate service learning, your syllabus should:
- Outline the expectations for sharing student work publicly.
- Include community-engaged teaching in the course objectives, with a clear rationale.
- Explain how service learning activities will be assessed.
- Clarify the nature of the service: Will students choose placements or work on faculty-led projects?
- Define student roles and responsibilities (e.g., transportation, time, contacts).
- Connect course content with service activities and clearly define the expected learning outcomes.
- Describe the critical reflection process (journals, discussions, papers, etc.).
Designate Your Community-Engaged Course
Community-engaged courses play a vital role in advancing the university’s public mission. By designating your course with the Service-Learning Attribute, instructors can showcase how community-engaged learning is integrated into their teaching. The attribute also helps students easily identify courses that offer community-engaged experiences. In addition, it provides valuable data on the number, scale, and frequency of these offerings, supporting the university’s efforts to track, assess, and strengthen community-engaged teaching and learning practices.
More information on how to add the Service-Learning Course Attribute can be found here:
Transportation
The UConn Department of Student Activities (DSA) provides vehicle rental services through Community Outreach Programs, Services, and Initiatives. The fleet includes 6-, 11-, and 14-passenger vehicles, with handicapped-accessible options available. Vehicle rentals are open to University departments and student organizations that align with the mission of Community Outreach. Scheduling priority is given to Student Activities departments and registered student organizations. Requests from other University departments supporting academic service-learning or service-based initiatives will be considered based on vehicle and driver availability. Detailed eligibility guidelines and reservation procedures can be found here:
Minor Protection
The University of Connecticut is proud to serve the broader community through a wide range of educational and enriching opportunities, and is committed to promoting a welcoming and secure experience for the children and youth who participate in activities at UConn.
We trust that this site will serve as a resource for members of the University community and those responsible for coordinating programs and activities involving minors.
Service-Learning Fellowship Program
Become a Service-Learning Faculty Fellow. This is a full-year fellowship opportunity for faculty interested in designing or enhancing a service-learning course. The Service-Learning Fellowship program provides instructors interested in service learning with training, networking, and project development to evaluate their teaching and increase their impact in communities.