Community-Engaged Learning:
The Comprehensive Experience

In May of 2022, the Academic Programs Team (ACEL) within CCEL hosted a week-long mini conference all about community-engaged learning in the classroom! Each day had a specific content theme such as the Student Experience, the Elements of Community Partnerships, Syllabus Design, and Rubrics, Reflection, and Resources. The content included exploration of theoretical foundations and practical applications, faculty/practitioner exemplars showcasing a variety of disciplines and implementation strategies, working sessions with consultants, and access to an abundance of useful tools and resources.

Special guest, Dr. Star Plaxton-Moore, Director of Community-Engaged Learning at the University of San Francisco, provided a thought-provoking keynote presentation. Dr. Plaxton-Moore traced the foundations of engagement, centering community-rooted initiatives, and explored directions of the field, current trends and dilemmas, inspiring new initiatives.

Throughout the week there were 237 participating registrants with 96 unique individuals from MSU as well as from campuses across the United States. One participant summed up the experience, “I enjoyed seeing so many people engaged in meaningful service within their classes, and who care deeply about the communities they work with.”

All sessions were recorded and available for sharing. Contact Michelle Snitgen at msnitgen@msu.edu for more information.

Special Topics Series:
Community-Engaged Learning within the Classroom

Prior to the mini-conference, within Fall semester 2021, the ACEL team hosted four sessions for faculty practitioners or aspiring practitioners, including Getting Started: Support for CEL at MSU, Community Conversations: The Elements of Community Partnerships, Creating or Refining your Community-Engaged Learning Syllabus, and In the Classroom: Rubrics, Reflections, and Resources. These sessions also contained faculty and community partner exemplars and shared tools and resources for theoretical understanding and practical application. Within these sessions, 127 participating registrants (54 unique individuals) engaged with content and networking.

Learning Community:
Community-Engaged Learning from Theory to Practice

Throughout the 2021-2022 academic year, the ACEL team hosted a learning community titled, Community-Engaged Learning: From Theory to Practice, sponsored by the MSU Office of Faculty and Academic Staff Development. Fifteen interested practitioners met monthly to read and discuss current scholarship on community-engaged learning (CEL) and engage with relevant experts and stakeholders to explore strategies for application. Many participants served as practitioner exemplars throughout the CCEL Mini-Conference and the conference keynote, Dr. Star Plaxton-Moore was co-author of the book around which the community centered many conversations: Welch and Plaxton-Moore's (2019), The Craft of Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning: A Guide for Faculty Development.

Student Reflection Workshops

Over the course of the 2021-2022 academic year, CCEL engaged 1,044 student participants in critical reflection workshops. Workshops ranged from Core Concepts of Community-Engaged Learning, which includes an overview of wicked problems, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the elements of building ethical and sustainable community partnerships, and the importance of practicing critical reflection—to Situated Spartan—which explores the concepts of power, privilege, and student identity. These sessions challenged students to explore concepts such as identity development, culture, socialization, power, privilege, and asset-based thinking.