Community Partner Guide to Campus Collaborations:

Becoming a Co-Educator in Civic Engagement

Christine M. Cress, Ph.D.Portland State University

cressc@pdx.edu©2013

Everything You Wanted to Know About Faculty But Were Afraid to Ask

Portland State UniversityGraduate Certificate in

Service-Learning and Community-Based Learning

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1. Colluding with the Ivory Tower: Pitfalls, Possibilities, and Promising Connections

2. Forms of Engagement, Service, and Learning

3. Initiating Collaborations and Dealing with Faculty

4. Managing Students and Facilitating Learning and Serving

5. Assessing Impact and Change

Becoming A Co-Educator

Community-Campus Collaboration Experience

Colluding with the Ivory Tower: Pitfalls and Possibilities

RUN Run FAST RUN VERY FAST!

Pitfalls

Student comment: “You mean we only have to serve dinner to those homeless guys and we can skip the final exam? Excellent!”

Student reflection: “If the parents just got involved with their kids’ education we wouldn’t have to be here.”

Community partner message: “Could you please discuss with your class why the term ‘orientals’ is not appropriate.”

Department chair: “We’re an academic department not a social service.”

Local Village: “Next time you come, please bring us a laptop computer.”

Pitfalls

Students who refuse to work with Boy Scouts, HIV/AIDS hospice, League of Women Voters

Ignorant, Prejudice, and Stereotypical Remarks Students who don’t show up. Students who show up in midriff t-shirts, short

shorts, and flip flops. Inappropriate actions, behaviors, and judgments Community funding that ends Clients that don’t cooperate Faculty who are concerned with tenure and

promotion

Civic Engagement Challenges

Instructors: I don’t know how to do it I won’t get promoted

Students: It was fun I hated my group

Community Partner: The students were self-righteous I felt used by the college

www.styluspub.com

Civic Engagement:Possibilities and Promising Connections

Civic engagement increases student access and success

H.S. Student: “Service-learning motivates me to keep going. I now see how education can benefit me and my community.”

College Student: “I applied my chemistry skills to water quality problems. I can use this knowledge anywhere in the world.”

Civic Engagement:Possibilities and Promising Connections

Students civic engagement positively impacts communities and engages facultyFaculty: “I increased my discipline knowledge, community research interests, and teaching strategies.”Community Partner: “Students provided us with renewed energy and a fresh look at our organization to improve our structure, service delivery, and evaluative process.”

Civic Engagement:Definitions

Civic Engagement:

Reciprocal community-campus collaborations enhance students’ understanding of and participation in civic life.

Community-based learning Civic education Community service Community-based research Service-learning

SFCC Definition

Service-LearningService-Learning is a method of teaching and learning that engages students in meaningful service to their community through careful integration of academic instruction. Service-Learning gives students an opportunity to use knowledge gained in the classroom to address needs in the neighborhood.

Forms of Engagement, Service, and Learning

What kinds of Community-Campus Collaborations Occur at Your Organization?

What does it mean to you to be a Co-Educator?

What does it mean to you to have a Reciprocal Relationship?

Successful Service-Learning

Connects academic learning with community needs Geography: Assets mapping project in low-income

neighborhood and microfinance revitalization project Builds college and community relationships for

long-term reciprocity and growth English: literacy and grammar instruction for refugee

center and GED completion program Develops student skills, knowledge, and

attitudes Biology: Middle-school STEM center and organization of

family science nights Creates future civically engaged citizens

75-99% report intentions for future community involvement and deepened civic responsibility.

Civic Engagement:A Promising Economic Connection

U.S. Census Current Population Supplement: States and localities with more civic engagement had lower levels of unemployment between 2006 and 2010. (National

Conference on Citizenship, CIRCLE, Civic Enterprises, the Saguaro Seminar, and the National Constitution Center. (2011). Civic health and unemployment: Can engagement strengthen the economy? http://www.ncoc.net/unemployment)

National Conference on Citizenship: Positive neighborhood interactions garner community problem-solving, small business investment, and consumer spending. (National Conference on Citizenship. (September 2012). Civic health and unemployment II: The

case builds. http://www.ncoc.net/unemployment2)

California Campus Compact: Campus-Community partnerships foster economic, educational, and social vitality through micro-finance and social entrepreneurship. (Plaut, J., Cress, C.M., Ikeda, E., & McGinley, P. (2013). Partnering in Tough

Times: Service-Learning for Economic Vitality. California Campus Compact.

Civic Engagement:A Promising Educational and Economic

Connection

Oregon (annually)

• 1% increase in high school to postsecondary education =

$1.6 billion

(Talent Dividend Metrics: A Progress Report, Cortright, J. Impresa Consulting, April 2010)

Civic Engagement

What’s the research evidence?

http://www.compact.org/resources-for-presidents/

Civic Engagement:Research Evidence—

K-12 Education

Increased Attendance Rates and decreased Suspensions

(Laird & Black, 2002; Ohlson, 2009)

Improved Grade Point Averages and Academic Engagement (Billig, 2007; Kraft, 2003)

Enhanced Sense of Self (McGuire, 2006)

Enhanced Social Consciousness (Furco, 2002; Lakin, 2006)

Civic Engagement:Research Evidence—

K-12 Education

California Campus Compact Youth-to-College Initiative

90% of mentors earn college degree 90% of mentees better understand how a college

degree can help their future 75% of mentees better understand which classes

will best prepare them for college

79% African American & 2/3 of American Indian and Hispanic youth

Strongly Agreed

Civic Engagement:Research Evidence—

K-12 Education

Greater impact on lower-income, ethnic minority, and at-risk youth

(Cress, Stokamer, & Drummond Hays, 2010; Melchior & Bailis,1999; Scales,2005)

“Civic engagement is one way to insure that no child is left behind.”(Gent, 2007)

Civic Engagement:Research Evidence—

Higher Education

Critical thinking (Bowden & Marten, 1998; Cress, 2003;

Pascarella & Terenzini ,2005)

Academic Engagement, Retention, & Graduation (Astin, 1996; Astin & Sax, 1996; Bringle & Hatcher,

2010; Gallini & Moely, 2003; Kielsmeier, 2009; Prentice & Robinson, 2010; MC3-- The Midwest Campus Compact Citizen-Scholar, 2010; Vogelgesang, Ikeda, Gilmartin, and Keup, 2002)

Identify as future agents of positive community change (Battistoni, 1997; Cress, Yamashita,

Duarte, & Burns, 2010; Colby, Ehrlich, Beaumont, & Stephens, 2003, Eyler & Giles, 1994; Moely, McFarland, Miron, Mercer, & Ilustre, 2002; Gallini & Moely, 2003)

Enhanced leadership skills (Cress, Astin,

Zimmerman-Oster, and Burkhardt, 2001; Moely et al., 2002).

Civic Engagement:Research Evidence Summary

Academic Content Critical Thinking Writing Verbal Communication Mathematics Problem-Solving Leadership Interpersonal Skills Cultural Competence Civic Dispositions

•Retention•Degree Aspirations•H.S. Graduation•College Enrollment•College Degree•Future Engagement•Faculty Research•Community Improvement

Creating Community-Campus Collaborations

Campus Support Resources Dealing with Faculty Managing Students Facilitating Learning

Campus Resources

Volunteer Center; Civic Engagement Center Associated Students Activities; Clubs Center for Teaching and Learning Alumni Association/Center Foundation/Development Center Academic Department; Department Chair Individual Faculty Community Advisory Boards

Understanding Faculty Life

Research/Tenure: publish or perish (assist, assoc, full vs. fixed term)

Teaching: heavy loads, technology Service: campus committees,

student advising, pro bono lectures, advisory boards

Culture of competition, competitiveness, egos

Co-Constructing Service-Learning

Communicate Co-Education: role, expertise Clarify Expectations, Timelines, Tasks Create Learning Objectives and Goals Craft Readings, Research, Assignments,

Activities, Assessment Compare Experiences for Improvement

Writing Service-Learning Objectives(Bloom’s Taxonomy)

Knowledge Level (verbs & behaviors) List, identify, name, find, label, recall, record

Comprehension Level Summarize, describe, explain, show, restate

Application Level Apply, demonstrate, model, practice, solve

Analysis Level Examine, compare/contrast, infer, formulate

Synthesis Level Create, design, organize, build, produce

Evaluation Level Argue, critique, defend, validate, recommend

Writing Service-Learning Objectives

(Bloom’s Taxonomy)

Identify and describe the needs of the community population (Knowledge)

Explain the role of the community organization in addressing needs (Comprehension)

Model professional learning behavior to youth/clients (Application)

Analyze economic, political, and social factors contributing to the challenges (Analysis/Synthesis)

Recommend leverage points for creating systemic change on the organizational and community levels (Evaluation)

More Collaboration Ideas

What Do You Do? What Strategies Work for

You?

Facilitating Learning

Transformational Learning is an epistemological change, rather than merely a change in behavior or increase in the quantity of knowledge.

(Kegan, 2000)

Service-Learning as Transformational

Transformational Learning:The process of using a prior interpretation to

construe a new or revised interpretation of the meaning of one’s experience in order to guide future action. (Mezirow, 1996)

“Homelessness is due to the fact that people are lazy or crazy or both.”

“While individual choices can be factors in homelessness, I now better understand the interplay of economic and social/cultural issues and how they can impact people’s lives. We must work with our city leaders to inform them about these issues too.”

Transformations in Habits of Mind:

Epochal—sudden, dramatic, reorienting insight and reframing of perspective(s)

Incremental—progressive series of shifts in view that culminates in a transformation

Transformational Learning

Learning as Transformational

Discuss a student or client in whom you witnessed transformational learning? What happened? How? What was your role?

Epochal—sudden, dramatic, reorienting insight and reframing of perspective

Incremental—progressive series of shifts in view that culminate in a transformation

Facilitating Learning: Co-Educating

Provide Guidance, Instruction, Feedback Role Model Interactions and Behavior Ask Reflective and Provocative Questions Inquire About Academic Connections Solicit Recommendations and Ideas

Brain Research

Myth: Adults want to grow & develop Reality: Individuals don’t want to change Research: Brain structures are cognitively

efficient reinforcing self and world views

Cultural Incompetence

Ethnocentrism: the tendency to view people unconsciously by using our own group and our own customs as the standard for all judgments.

Assumption of Similarity Acknowledge superficial behavioral differences

(dress, language, food) Denial of values and meaning difference Unconscious sense of self and cultural norms

Implicit Associations

Conscious-unconscious divergence People don’t always speak their

minds People don’t always know their

minds Implicit social cognition

Preferences: racial, ethnic, gender, age

www.implicit.harvard.edu Multicultural v. Unicultural

Cultural Intelligence Test

Think of a number Double it Add 8 Divide by 2 Subtract your original number Determine which letter of the alphabet your

number relates to: A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4, E=5… Think of a Country that begins with your letter Think of an Animal that begins with the Last

letter of your Country Think of a Color that begins with the last letter

of your animal What’s your Color?

Intercultural Competence

The critical element in the expansion of intercultural [competence] is not the fullness with which one knows each culture, but the degree to which the process of cross-cultural learning, communication, and human relations has been mastered (Hoopes, 1981)

Key: Empathy, Suspension of Judgment, and Emotional Intelligence

Development of Intercultural Sensitivity

Experience of Difference

Denial Defense Minimization Acceptance Adaptation Integration

ETHNOCENTRIC STAGES ETHNORELATIVE STAGES

(Bennett & Bennett, 2004)

InterCultural Competence

Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Versus Platinum Rule: Do unto others

as they themselves would have done unto them. (Bennett & Bennett, 2004)

Co-Constructing Service-Learning

Communicate Co-Education: role, expertise Clarify Expectations, Timelines, Tasks Create Learning Objectives and Goals Craft Readings, Research, Assignments,

Activities, Assessment Compare Experiences for Improvement

Assessing Impact & Change

Assessing Impact & Change

A. Did our efforts make a difference?

B. Why did our efforts make a difference?

C. How can we make a bigger difference?

A. Did our efforts make a difference?– Quantitative

• Hours, Clients, Funds/Grants, Homes, Reading Levels, Water Wells, GPA, Retention, Degrees…

– Qualitative• Lives changed/transformed—students,

instructors, community partners, families, neighborhoods…– Academic Knowledge; Writing; Communication– Degree Aspirations; Career Aspirations– Leadership Capacity; Future Civic Motivation

[OUTCOMES]

B. Why did our efforts make a difference?– Pedagogical strategies– Epistemological processing– Organizational analyses– External Stakeholders– Political, Social, Cultural, Economic, Ethnic,

Religious issues (students & community)– Geographic contexts– Academic and theoretical frames[UNIT OF ANALYSIS, METHODOLOGY]

C. How can we make a bigger difference?– Teaching/Learning Implications– Structural/Logistic Supports– Organizational Processes and Policies– Intercultural/Communication Competence– Implode Grand Narratives and Paradigmatic Assumptions:

Deconstruct to Reconstruct– Build Campus and Community Capacity– Reciprocal and Collective Transformation

[IMPLICATIONS, LEVERAGING CHANGE,BUILDING CAPACITY]

Evidence of Effectiveness

LASSIE Report: 7 courses; 186 students; 2,345 hours; $42,250

Legislative Letter: Three-fourths (76%) of high school students now aspire to

earn a college degree Dean/Vice President:

93% of College Students of Color understand how to use academic knowledge and skills to improve the community

Grant Funder: Community Partner: “Students’ math and science knowledge

were critical factors at the city council presentation which resulted in securing the land for the neighborhood garden site.”

Your Engaged Scholarship

1. Do your efforts make a difference?

2. Why do your efforts make a difference?

3. How can you make a bigger difference?

• What is your EVIDENCE?

Assessment for Learning and Impact

Tell a Story: People (Qualitative)

Substantiate the Situation: Numbers (Quantitative)

Suggest a Remedy: Service-Learning for Academic Solutions (Impact)

Solicit Support: Resources ($, @) At the food bank, I met a mother with her 2 kids who works at

Walmart 32 hrs/wk. I had no idea that 36% of those who received emergency food in Oregon last year were children. One-third of the hungry are kids! In class, we read about the economic factors that impact food distribution. But this experience has made real the concept of supply and demand and who is left with-out. It has confirmed my interest in double-majoring in urban planning and sociology. Now if I can just afford the tuition!

Data--Evidence

What Data do you already have? What Data do you want to gather?

1. Did your efforts make a difference?2. Why did your efforts make a difference?3. How can you make a bigger difference?

Methodological Framework(Gelmon, Holland, Driscoll, Spring, & Kerrigan)

What do we want to know? Core Concepts

How will we know it? Measurable or observable indicators

How will we gather the evidence to demonstrate what we know? Methods, Sources, Timing

Assessment Matrix

Concept Indicator Method

I. 1.

2.

A.

B.

II. 1.

2.

A.

B.

Gelmon, S.B., Holland, B. A., Driscoll, A., Spring , A., & Kerrigan , S. (2001). Assessing Service -Learning and Civic Engagement. Boston: Campus Compact.

Student Example

Did students improve their civic leadership skills? Concept: leadership; civic leadership Indicators: knowledge of leadership

concepts/skills; ability to identify characteristics of individual and group facilitation strategies; products as evidence of leadership success

Methods: survey, interviews, focus groups, observations in class/community

Community Example

What is the civic engagement impact on community partners? Concepts: capacity to fulfill mission,

economic impacts Indicators: # of clients, impact on

resource/funding utilization, staff changes, program insights

Methods: focus groups, interviews, document reviews, survey

Methodological Framework(Gelmon, Holland, Driscoll, Spring, & Kerrigan)

What do we want to know? Core Concepts

How will we know it? Measurable or observable indicators

How will we gather the evidence to demonstrate what we know? Methods, Sources, Timing

Assessment Matrix

Concept Indicator Method

I. 1.

2.

A.

B.

II. 1.

2.

A.

B.

Gelmon, S.B., Holland, B. A., Driscoll, A., Spring , A., & Kerrigan , S. (2001). Assessing Service -Learning and Civic Engagement. Boston: Campus Compact.

Assessment Plan

Goal Concept Indicator Method Analysis Existing

Data

Report

I.

II.

1.

2.

A.

B.

Results: Leadership Development

Personal Goal U.S. IntlBecome a Community Leader 37 34

Self RatingsLeadership Ability 57 71*Develop Leadership in Others 45 66*

*statistically significant (p<.01)

Leadership Development Summary

Good News (Development): International students report significantly increased leadership abilities including the desire and skills to help others develop leadership.

Bad News: However, only about 1/3 of International and US students desire to become a community leader.

Recommendations (Action): Investigate student definitions of community leader and make this a more intentional service-learning goal. (Resources needed)

Question Examples(poor ones)

I am generally satisfied with the diversity on my campus.

The experience enhanced my civic capacity skills.

I felt the service-learning was meaningful.

Disseminate—Publish, Post, or Perish

Journals Conferences Newsletters Newspapers

Blogs and Websites Legislative letters and testimony

Reports Community Forums

Electronic Media Policy Papers

Curricular & Syllabus Integration

Journals and Conferences

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice Advances in Service-Learning Research (International

Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement)

Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship American Association of Colleges & Universities Community-Campus Partnerships for Health's

Community-Engaged Scholarship Toolkit: http://depts.washington.edu/ccph/toolkit-portexamples.html

Assessing ImpactMethodological Framework

• What do You want to know? Core Concepts (define with campus, students, clients, funders)

• How will You know it? Indicators of Impact (consider conditions, cultures, contexts, characteristics across and within categories)

• How will You gather and analyze evidence?– Methodological Design (theoretically sound, link

data)• How will You disseminate insights for Improvement?

Leveraging Change and Capacity Building, Transformation

Thank You