Applications are always open to designate or redesignate a Community-Engaged Course (CEC) for the coming semester. If you have any questions, email Jan Warren at jan-warren@uiowa.edu.
Please follow the link below to submit your course for redesignation or to request that your course be considered for a new CEC designation.
For Redesignations, You Will Need:
- Course Number
- Changes
What aspects of your course have changed since the initial CEC designation? For example, will you be working with an alternate community partner? Will students be working on significantly different community engagement activities?
- Community Partner
Please identify the community partner(s) working with your course. If you have not yet identified a partner, please provide an idea of what organizations, groups, or communities you plan to work with (e.g., local nonprofit organizations, government entities, community coalitions). We are happy to assist instructors in community partner identification and development.
For New Designations, You Will Need:
- Course Number
- Community Partner
Please identify the community partner(s) working with your course. If you have not yet identified a partner, please provide an idea of what organizations, groups, or communities you plan to work with (e.g., local nonprofit organizations, government entities, community coalitions). We are happy to assist instructors in community partner identification and development.
- Community Engagement Activities
Please describe how you will incorporate community engagement into course activities. Your answer should provide an understanding of course goals and objectives and how community engagement is integrated into the course structure and connected with the course subject matter. Provide at least one example of an assignment that reflects the integration of community engagement into your course (you can reference the assignment title from the syllabus you submit with your application).
- Examples of Mutual Benefit and Reciprocity
Mutual benefit focuses on ensuring that both students/faculty and community partners benefit from the outputs and outcomes of the CEC. For example, a park design project completed by students in a civil engineering course should further their understanding of course objectives. The plan should advance the community’s ability to develop a new park.
Reciprocity refers to the process by which it achieves these mutually beneficial outcomes. A CEC should advance shared goals and objectives developed by faculty/students and community partners equitably. In the civil engineering course example above, base the project on community needs, determined by collaborative discussions between faculty/students and community partner. Faculty/students and community partners should work together to identify shared values and goals and follow through on objectives throughout the park design project.
- Syllabus and Grading
The course syllabus and grading should demonstrate that community engagement is a substantial component of the overall course. Please provide any additional narrative about the general scope of community engagement in your class not captured in your syllabus (e.g., percentage of the student’s final grade in the course based on community-engaged work).
- Student Reflection
Students should engage in meaningful and deliberate reflection of the community-engaged learning activities throughout the course. Please provide at least one example (you can reference specific assignments in the syllabus) of how students will reflect on projects, community partner visits, or other community-engaged course activities.
Teaching a Community-Engaged Course can be exciting and deeply rewarding. Research indicates these courses are a high-impact learning practice, often leading to deeper student understanding of course material, higher overall GPAs, and better retention rates.
88% of students who took a Community-Engaged Course at the University of Iowa said their project helped them better understand course content.
Teaching a Community-Engaged Course (CEC)
The Office of Community Engagement and numerous campus partners are here to provide you with resources, best practices, and technical assistance to ensure your community-engaged teaching experience runs as smoothly as possible. We can help increase the benefits of community-engaged courses while helping navigate structural challenges, logistical issues, and potential partnership pitfalls.
The following guide provides faculty with a beginner's overview of how to develop a Community-Engaged Course. It can help you consider project development, syllabus development, partnership creation, project management, and evaluation.
Additional Resources
The University of Iowa Center for Teaching
The Center for Teaching is an excellent resource for faculty looking to tweak or revamp their standard course into a Community-Engaged Course. The following link provides a variety of resources for faculty to consider when transitioning or creating a new Community-Engaged Course:
Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC)
The Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) is an engaged-learning program at the University of Iowa. IISC partners faculty, staff, and students with urban and rural communities to complete projects that enhance the sustainability of Iowa's communities while transforming teaching and learning at the university. Faculty interested in connecting their courses to sustainability-related projects in Iowa can work with the IISC to create or adapt their syllabus, identify a community partner, and develop and implement a course project.
Campus Compact
Campus Compact, a national organization that leads the field in community-engaged learning, provides a wealth of information for faculty looking to create or modify their Community-Engaged Courses.
The Office of Community Engagement's Resources page provides a library of scholarly articles about community-engaged teaching and learning. For more information about how faculty can partner with the OCE to incorporate or enhance their community-engaged education, please contact Nick Benson at nicholas-benson@uiowa.edu.