Welcome. This research guide will connect you to scholarship in the field of community engagement and service-learning in higher education. It contains a collection of curated articles, handbooks, journals, and organizations to guide faculty in connecting and contributing to the field. Here you will find a range of information from articles about specific aspects of service-learning pedagogy (i.e. reflection) to best practices on conducting community-based research to opportunities for publishing in scholarly journals.
For information specific to community engagement and service-learning courses/programs at WCU, please visit WCU’s Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. CCESL has also created the Service Learning Quick Guide as a resource for faculty interested in developing a community-engaged course.
"Community engagement describes 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." - Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education
"a course or competency-based, credit-bearing educational experience in which students (a) participate in mutually identified service activities that benefit the community, and (b) reflect on the service 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. " - Robert G. Bringle and Patti H. Clayton in Higher Education and Civic Engagement
"Community-based research is research that is conducted with and for, not on, members of a community". - Kerry Strand, in Community-Based Research and Higher Education: Principles and Practices
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