CEL Course Designation

At USU, Community-Engaged Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community work with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. Students are given the opportunity to apply course content to a real, community-identified need in a context of partnership and reciprocity. Through community-engaged learning, faculty can help achieve USU’s goal to prepare citizen scholars who participate and lead in local, regional, national, and global communities.  

Before courses can receive the CEL designation, faculty must complete a brief course designation form, outlining the learning outcomes, community engagement activity, and reflection. Submitted forms and syllabi are reviewed by staff each semester for the upcoming semester.

Important: Collaborating with Official Community-based Organizations

• The CCE manages Letters of Agreement with various community-based organizations that are open to collaborating with USU faculty and students. The Letter of Agreement serves as an important protection for you as a faculty member because it shows that you and USU have done our due diligence in making sure the community partner meets USU’s standards, that the community partner is an appropriate place to send students and they have agreed to indemnify USU should something go wrong with the experience.  Not having a Letter of Agreement in place prior to the community-engaged learning experience exposes faculty members and USU to additional liability.
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  If you are uncertain whether the community-based organization with which you would like to work has a current Letter of Agreement with the CCE, contact nelda.ault@usu.edu. If your potential partnering organization does not have a Letter of Agreement, you will be asked to facilitate the signing of the Letter and returning it to the CCE prior to your students' involvement with the organization.

Components

Learning

Community-engaged learning is tied directly to course material and the knowledge gained from that course material. Learning outcomes must be identified to ensure the link between the course material and community engagement is clearly understood. Through community-engaged learning, students not only apply course material, but also learn valuable skills such as teamwork, communication, and critical thinking.

Prior to completing a designation form, we highly recommend checking in with the Center for Community Engagement for support identifying a community partner or service activity appropriate for your course.

Meaningful Engagement

Community-engaged learning is not adding “volunteer” activities to a course. Rather, it is integrating community engagement so students can apply the knowledge and skills they are learning in class to meet real community needs. The community engaged activity/project is incorporated as part of the “out-of-class” work expected of each student registered in the course. Student learning is graded, and impact is measured through structured reflection and assessment activities.

Reflection

Reflection is an essential element of a CEL course. It is a structured time for students to recount their experiences and the learning acquired in the community setting. It can be accomplished in a number of ways, depending on instructor preference. Some common forms of reflection include journal entries with prompts, reflection papers, class presentations, or facilitated small-group discussions.

CEL Course Designation Application

CEL course designation requests are accepted in ServiceNow for the upcoming semester as soon as the schedule is released to Banner. Current CEL courses will need to reapply every semester to maintain designation, but faculty can request "permanent" designation for the courses they know will be taught with community-engaged learning every time they're taught.