How CCLC Supports Faculty and Instructors Interest

How CCLC Supports Faculty and Instructors Interested in Service-Learning

CCLC encourages the integration of community-based learning into course curricula as a way to infuse active learning techniques and assist students as they begin to connect the value of academic learning to their future careers and lives as citizens.

CCLC service-learning staff members provide faculty and instructors from across the University with support in developing and implementing service-learning into their coursework. The range of support sought by instructors while planning a new service-learning course, or maintaining one that has been taught for years varies. Some instructors prefer to coordinate the logistical work behind a service-learning course, while other faculty members may prefer CCLC staff to handle all of the logistical work and coordination of a service-learning course.

Here are some of the services provided by CCLC:

Knowledge of the community and of the field of service-learning
Partnerships with more than 150 organizations and agencies
Ability to form new community partnerships based on needs and interests
Identify appropriate community placements for students based on the course goals
Connect new service-learning faculty with veteran service-learning faculty
Advertise service-learning courses in CCLC's website, www.servicelearning.umn.edu
Maintain CCLC's Service-Learning Library, available to faculty and staff
Conduct site visits to discuss course goals and objectives
Organize the Service-Learning Orientation-Community Partner Panel
Provide ideas and methods for helping students to reflect on their community experience
Handle issues of concern and maintain liability forms on file from each site
Send a monthly electronic newsletter to community partners
Maintain copies of community organizations Certificate of Insurance
Provide students with site descriptions and site supervisor contacts
Provide students with public transportation information
Provide students with a copy of CCLC's "Student Guide to Community Service-Learning"
Assign students to their service sites and provide sites with student contact information
Offer trainings to help students prepare for community work
Maintain a database with student information and their community site placements
Maintain correspondence with site supervisors to handle concerns and mediate resolutions
Conduct mid-semester site visits to evaluate the partnership
Organize the mid-semester Community Partner-Faculty Gathering
Disseminate and collect end-of-the-year community partner evaluations
Disseminate and collect post-service-learning survey to students
Highlight faculty work and community partnerships in various CCLC U of M reports