Community-Engaged Projects Incorporating Students

Another autumn term is under way for many of us, and for those on the quarter system, you are about to begin another exciting session. This week, I would like to share a recent scholarly paper that might be useful as we continue to enhance our research-based instruction. The paper is entitled “Teaching with the Future in Mind: The Importance of Community-Engaged Projects Incorporating Students” by Wright (2022), et al. The research focuses on undergraduate research experiences as recognized as high-impact practices (Kuh, 2008) providing multiple benefits to students.

Recall that “experiential learning (such as community-engaged projects) places the learner in real-world situations to apply knowledge and skills, reflect, and then integrate potential changes into their learning. Experiential learning is a process where learning occurs during the learner’s experience (Kolb, 1984), with the learner both affecting and being affected by goals, cultures, experiences, and environments within a collaborative community space (Cashman & Seifer, 2008).

The purpose of this research was to detail the opportunities, barriers, and lessons learned that related to community research projects, utilizing the Socio-ecological Model as a guiding framework. As per the authors, “opportunities included fostering emotional intelligence and patience, researching in teams, developing qualitative research skills, incorporating community input in local health programming, fostering meaningful community partnerships, and influencing local policies. Barriers included having adequate time to conduct meaningful studies, providing time for training, and navigating conflicting priorities between partners. Lessons learned included knowing one’s motivation, as well as the importance of providing feedback, flexibility, and building intentional collaborations.

The findings included the following:

1. Faculty should develop intentional partnerships with students and communities. Community projects incorporating students were mutually beneficial:

   1. assisting with tenure and promotion;

   2. increasing real-world experiences;

   3. pursuing the university’s mission;

   4. encouraging retention and student success; and

   5. internship/job opportunities for students.

2. Faculty should be flexible, without minimizing rigor in research.

3. Faculty should develop community-and student-centered projects to promote sustainability in learning.

References

Wright, L., Fink, K., & Cowan, S. (2022). Teaching with the future in mind: The importance of community-engaged projects incorporating students. Journal of Transformative Learning, 9(1).