Applications are now open to designate or re-designate a Community-Engaged Course (CEC) in the Fall 2024 Semester, and the deadline to apply is fast approaching! If you have any questions, email Jan Warren at jan-warren@uiowa.edu.
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.