Service-Learning & Community Engagement Learning Communities Fall 2023

What are they?

The fall 2023 S-L Learning Communities provide a platform for Northeastern faculty and staff to collaborate with like-minded colleagues as they explore and share best practices, innovative ideas, and resources for service-learning course and/or infrastructure development. Through group discussions, topical exploration, and identification of resources, participants will be empowered to foster community engagement and experiential learning towards social impact. This is a great opportunity for faculty and staff at Northeastern who are curious about bringing or expanding service-learning courses at their campus sites.

Track 1: Social Justice & Community Engagement: Teaching & Partnerships (for Boston-based faculty):

Utilizing a service-learning or community-engaged approach necessitates a deep commitment to social justice. It also requires that an educator understands their own positionality in the ecosystem created between their course, their students, and the community organizations with whom they are partnering. This track will begin with a session unearthing the social location of the educator, as well as a foundation in the principles and values of ethical community engagement to identify where learning edges are and capacity building is needed. The second session will focus on facilitating S-L learning experiences with a thorough consideration of students’ social locations, course learning outcomes, and preparing students to work with the community in responsible ways. In the final session, participants will examine and identify how their own and their students’ social locations interact with those of their partner organizations, how to assess progress towards commitments, and steward positive relationships. The culminating activity will be a course one-pager aimed at potential partner organizations as well as a syllabus description of the community engagement component of the course for the students.

Required meetings:

  • Session One: Tues., September 26th, 1:45 PM – 3:15 PM (EST) – In-person, Boston campus
  • Session Two: Tues., October 17th, 1:45-2:45 PM (EST) – hybrid, In-person w/virtual option
  • Session Three: Tues., November 14th, 1:45-2:45 PM (EST) – hybrid, In-person w/virtual option
  • Showcase: Tues., December 12th, 1:45– 2:45 PM (EST) – virtual
SIGN UP FOR TRACK 1 HERE

Track 2: Infrastructural Support for Service-Learning  (for Network campus affiliates or department coordinators) 

This track will support the learning of non-Boston campus Northeastern faculty and staff who are invested in bringing Service-Learning/Community Engaged (S-LCE) programming to their network campus sites. While taking into account the unique cultural, organizational, and geographic contexts of each campus location, this learning community will be a generative space that supports participants in building lasting infrastructure for S-LCE. In the first session, participants will investigate the affordances and constraints of existing campus policies when it comes to building robust S-LCE programming. The second session will focus on building understanding of best practices for S-LCE faculty development. In the concluding session, participants will explore possibilities for resource allocation toward S-LCE and workshop strategies for bringing their plans to fruition. Through these modules, participants will take beginning steps towards integrating community-engaged courses as a prominent feature of their academic programs.    

Required meetings (all virtual):

  • Session One: Tues., October 10th, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM (EST) – virtual
  • Session Two: Tues., November 7th, 3:00-4:00 PM (EST) – virtual
  • Session Three: Tues., December 5th, 3:00-4:00 PM (EST) – virtual
  • Showcase: Tues., December 12th, 3:15– 4:15 PM (EST) – virtual
SIGN UP FOR TRACK 2 HERE