Individual Course Designation

Program Description

The Community-Engaged Learning Grant & Designation (CELD) program supports faculty who engage in high-impact pedagogies, specifically community-engaged learning. The CELD program also functions on a larger level to create engaged departments/programs. The program is open to faculty who are designating for the first time and faculty who have previously designated but would like to revamp elements of their community-engaged learning class.

Community-engaged learning (i.e., service-learning) is a course or competency-based, credit-bearing educational experience in which students (a) participate in mutually identified service activities that benefit the community, and (b) reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of personal values and civic responsibility. (Bringle & Clayton, 2012, p. 105; adapted from Bringle & Hatcher, 1996).

The goals of the CELD program are to:

Engage and retain students by supporting faculty and departments in their commitment to providing high-impact practices.
Facilitate the formal designation of community-engaged learning courses, Engaged Departments, and Civic Faculty Fellows.
Allow innovative practitioners to develop community-engaged learning courses as a way of teaching and learning that leverages "community-based public problem solving that not only generates new knowledge and higher order cognitive outcomes, but develops the civic skills of critical thinking, public deliberation, collective action and social ethics" (Saltmarsh, 2002, p. viii).
Support faculty with professional development opportunities and funding.
Foster mutually beneficial and sustainable college-community partnerships.
Support the implementation of SLCC’s Civic Literacy Student Learning Outcome.

Guidelines

Eligible Applicants

The CELD program is open to individual full-time and adjunct faculty members in all departments/programs.

Supported Projects

Department/Division Chairs/Associate Deans must be aware of and supportive of the designation.

New Community-engaged learning course development
Faculty restructure the pedagogy of an existing SLCC course that is not currently utilizing community-engaged learning (i.e. civic/community engagement is not a focus or not formalized). Full- time faculty receive $1000. Note that programs that contain a course and clinical component are eligible for $1,000 for the course and may be eligible for up to $500 for clinical. *
Review of existing community-engaged learning courses
Existing designated community-engaged learning course(s) undergo a formal review periodically. The purpose of the review is to support the implementation of community-engaged learning pedagogy best practices and academic rigor. Faculty receive $300 for courses that are reapproved.

* New adjunct faculty are required to take the Community-Engaged Learning Professional Development Series (CELPDS) and will get paid for time spent participating in the course and in mentoring. During the course, faculty will create content for a CELD proposal, which they can then submit for approval. If the course is approved, faculty receive the designation but not additional pay.

Processes for New Individual Community-Engaged Learning Designation

Course already approved through established SLCC course curriculum approval processes
Faculty member develops an integrated community-engaged learning proposal
(All faculty should notify administration before creating a proposal to ensure compliance with HR policies and especially HR part-time instructional hours and overload)
Faculty requesting approval receives signatures from Department/Division Chair/Associate Dean
Faculty member submits proposal to the CELD Review Committee
Designated classes forwarded to Department/Division Chair/Associate Dean for notification
The Engaged Learning Coordinator notifies Curriculum Committee and coordinates Banner tagging
Each year faculty meets with the Engaged Learning Coordinator and submits an updated syllabus

Evaluation Criteria & Procedure

The CELD committee reviews all course proposals competitively and judges them using the evaluation rubric. Proposals must generally fall in the medium or high impact categories on the rubric to be approved. Funding for proposals is based on budget availability. The CELD review committee is comprised of community-engaged learning practitioners, community partner representatives, and staff who know community-engaged learning pedagogy.

Existing Community-Engaged Learning Course Review

Existing designated courses will periodically undergo a review. The purpose of the evaluation is to ensure that the implementation of community-engaged learning pedagogy is still occurring and to provide avenues for further development of best practices.

The CELD committee will review all review submissions and judge them using the Individual Course Renewal Rubric.