What is community-engaged learning or scholarship?

As community engagement in higher education progresses, so does our language and understanding. Service-Learning (SL) is a community-based teaching and learning approach 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 service and learning (service-learning). Key components of SL include critical reflection, reciprocity, collaboration, and application.

The University of Nevada, Reno currently uses an SL Designation for community-engaged learning (CEL) courses and community-engaged scholarship (CES) opportunities. CEL or CES are used more frequently as we advance toward critical community engagement and high-impact practices like collective action and mutually beneficial and reciprocal partnerships for all participants. CEL and CES are broad terms defined by many scholars and institutions. At its core, they 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 six primary components of CES as:

  • 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.

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

  1. Participate in mutually identified engagement activities that benefit the community’s needs and,
  2. Reflect on the engagement activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of personal values and civic responsibility (Bringle and Clayton, 2012, adapted from Bringle and Hatcher, 1995)

CEL and CES 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 learn more about the SL designation and OSLCE resources related to SL, CEL, or CES on our website.

What is community engagement?

The Carnegie Foundation defines community engagement as “the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity. The purpose of community engagement is the partnership of college and university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research, and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching, and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good.” The University adopts the definition provided by the Carnegie Foundation as its institutional framework for community engagement.

What is civic engagement?

Civic engagement at the University is described as working to improve and promote the quality of life in our local and global communities. "Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivations to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes." (Ehrlich, 2000).

Recommended readings:

  • 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. (2018). Community-Engaged Scholarship: Toward a Shared Understanding of Practice. Review of Higher Education, Volume 41.
  • Gordon da Cruz, C. (2017). Critical Community-Engaged Scholarship: Communities and Universities Striving for Racial Justice. Peabody Journal of Education.
  • Spade, Dean. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity during This Crisis (and the Next). Verso, 2020.
  • Welch, M., & Plaxton-Moore, S. (2019). The craft of community-engaged teaching and learning: A guide for faculty development. Campus Compact.