What is community-engaged learning or scholarship?

As community engagement in higher education progresses, so does our language and understanding. Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) is a method that combines meaningful community engagement with instruction and reflection to enhance the learning experience, foster mutually beneficial partnerships, and strengthen local communities. Therefore, equal focus is placed on both engagement with communities and the learning experience. Key components of CEL include critical reflection, mutual benefit and reciprocity, and collective collaboration.

Community-engaged scholarship (CES) is a broad term defined by many scholars and institutions. At its core, CES can be defined as an intentional approach to designing curricular opportunities with a central focus on collaboration between the University and the community. CES opportunities are often cultivated with and for the community, addressing needs and issues that promote the advancement of the public good.

Gordon da Cruz (2018) outlines the following as the six primary components of community-engaged scholarship:

• Identify a focus on social problems and needs defined alongside, with, and/or directly by the community.
• Investigate the social or societal gaps of the community-identified needs at the core of the experience.
• Create partnerships that are mutually beneficial, collaborative, and based on shared reciprocity.
• Generate knowledge through experiences and solutions to address and improve the public good.
• Exchange institutional resources and knowledge with the community or communities that you engage with. And,
• Produce experiences and solutions relevant to the faculty’s academic scholarship, teaching praxis, discipline, or role.

Our office combines these approaches to establish best practices in curricular community engagement. Additionally, following best practices in CELS helps us develop engaged leaders and scholars within the community through this critical method.

CEL at the University of Nevada, Reno is a course or competency-based, for-credit curricular engagement experience in which students must do the following:

• Engagement work that addresses community-identified needs and social issues through mutually beneficial partnerships, and
• investigate societal gaps, generate knowledge and solutions for the public good, exchange institutional and community resources, and produce outcomes relevant to academic scholarship and disciplinary practice (Gordon da Cruz, 2018).

Currently, the University recognizes and supports various community learning opportunities (CLOs), such as CEL, internships, and practicum experiences. However, CLOs such as internships and practicums may include engagement elements but do not fully align with the best practices and core components of critical community engagement or CEL. That said, internships or practicums often qualify for the CEL designation.

CELS are vital tools and frameworks that support the University’s public mission and strengthen its commitment to community engagement and the land-grant mission. You can find more information about the CEL designation and related community engagement resources on our website.

Recommended readings

• Brukardt et al. (Wingspread Conference Participants), (2004). “Calling the Question: Is Higher Education Ready to Commit to Community Engagement?” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
• Dostilio, L. D. (Ed.). (2017). The community engagement professional in higher education: A competency model for an emerging field. Campus Compact.
• Dostilio, L. D. (2019). The community engagement professional’s guidebook: A companion to The Community Engagement Professional in Higher Education. Campus Compact.
• Fitzgerald, H. E., Bruns, K., Sonka, S. T., Furco, A., & Swanson, L. (2016). The Centrality of Engagement in Higher Education. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement.
• Gelmon, S. B., Holland, B. A., & Spring, A. (2018). Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement: Principles and Techniques (Second Edition). Campus Compact.
• Gordon da Cruz, C. G. (2018). Community-Engaged Scholarship: Toward a Shared Understanding of Practice. Review of Higher Education.
• Gordon da Cruz, C. (2017). Critical Community-Engaged Scholarship: Communities and Universities Striving for Racial Justice. Peabody Journal of Education.
• Keywords for American Cultural Studies: Engagement, Third Edition, edited by Bruce Burgett, and Glenn Hendler, New York University Press, 2020.
• Keywords for American Cultural Studies: University, Third Edition, edited by Bruce Burgett, and Glenn Hendler, New York University Press, 2020.
• Strier, R. (2014). Fields of Paradox: University–Community Partnerships. High Educ 68, 155–165.
• Welch, M., & Plaxton-Moore, S. (2019). The craft of community-engaged teaching and learning: A guide for faculty development. Campus Compact.