The conditions that supported the development of a highly successful collaborative partnership between a college literacy program and a nonprofit center for refugee children are discussed. This three year partnership produced three inquiry-based projects, grant opportunities and increased collaboration among graduate literacy students, center…

Lauded as a rewarding pedagogical approach, community-engagement can be time-consuming, resource-intensive, and difficult for instructors to manage for effective student learning outcomes. Collaborative teaching can allow instructors working in the same classroom to draw from each others' expertise and share resources. In this essay, we propose a…

This article documents a community-initiated service-learning project within a teacher education program. A social justice model guided the initiative to raise critical awareness on power and privilege while countering deficit-model thinking. Partnering with community agencies serving immigrant children and youth, the faculty researcher worked…

Universities, health services and health students have a vested interest in the development of work-ready graduates to improve employment prospects, standards of practice and healthcare outcomes. Work integrated learning supports the transition of theoretical knowledge into professional practice, thus preparing students for their work following…

This study investigates service-learning from the community partners' perspective, especially in terms of reciprocity. As a central construct in the theory of service-learning, reciprocity for community partners is virtually unknown. Little scholarship exists that explains or explores the benefits and opportunity costs of service-learning. One…

Since its inception, Metropolitan State University has demonstrated a strong commitment to community partnerships and the integration of community engagement into student learning and scholarship while meeting community-defined needs. This article presents examples of reciprocal partnerships in the context of a shared community-university library…

The purpose of this paper is to describe an educational partnership experience between rural retailers and graduate students in a Merchandising, Apparel and Textiles program. Students were afforded an opportunity to work with small business owners in rural communities, giving them real world exposure to the actual challenges being faced by…

Civic engagement in higher education encompasses a diversity of goals, strategies and activities. These include particular approaches to teaching and learning--community-based or service learning--which share an explicit civic focus and combine the features of experiential learning with opportunities for engagement. A range of…

Educators can provide opportunities for active learning for the students by engaging them in client-based projects with the community, which enhances application of theory and provides students with the relevance demanded from the business community. Experiential learning opportunities through client-based projects provide for such an experience.…

Due to the closing of the GM Manufacturing Plants, Grand Rapids, Michigan area experienced an extreme loss of jobs, which led to low-socioeconomic hardships such as "food insecurity" that was witnessed in the needs of the many students who attend the Grand Rapid Public Schools. This case provides insight into how educational leader…

This paper reports on a project in which students designed, constructed and tested a model of an existing early warning system with simulation of debris flow in a context of a landslide. Students also assessed rural community members' knowledge of this system and subsequently taught them to estimate the time needed for evacuation of the community…

Identifying a community problem or need and helping to solve it via student-led initiatives is at the heart of service learning. Projects can tackle social issues with global impact or fill in a smaller local need using creativity and ingenuity. Service learning projects can range from a few weeks to a full semester or longer. Where service…

This article describes the Community Grant Writing Project (CGWP), a flexible service-learning framework designed for use in writing-intensive courses. The CGWP incorporates best-practice recommendations from the service-learning literature and addresses recent challenges identified for successful service-learning partnerships. In the CGWP,…

Universities and funding agencies are increasingly calling for collaborative research between community partners and academics. When combined with faculty roles in training the next generation of researchers, these collaborative frameworks can present a challenge to undergraduate students seeking experience with research activities--both in terms…

This article presents three cases of community-engaged, or "public," scholarship across diverse disciplines (social science, natural science, and health science) in which the rigid boundaries of what has been conceived as traditional service-learning have been blurred. The innovations represented within these cases explicitly address…