COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING

Jonah Ralston, Assistant Professor

University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING IS CBL?

• You are giving a lecture on the Syrian refugee crisis and you invite in a refugee that lives in the community to speak about their experience
• You take your students on a field trip to the state capital where they meet with their representatives and staffers to learn about the legislative process
• A local school contacts you about a problem they are having with low enrollment in their free and reduced-price school lunch program in the high school; you apply for and are awarded a grant for you and a few students to research the problem
• You create a partnership with a local nonprofit whereby your students conduct a policy analysis to propose potential solutions to the issue the non-profit works on; your students carry out their work in the classroom, not at the nonprofit organization
• You require your students to spend 15 hours volunteering at a local homeless shelter
• You require your students to work on a project with your city that seeks to increase the participation of college students in city council meetings; your students must spend at least 15 hours working on the project, a portion of which will be spent at city hall
• You require your students to attend a local city council meeting

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DEFINING COMMUNITY-BASED LEARNING

Definitions abound!

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How we have defined it at UW-Whitewater is available on our website: http://www.uww.edu/ce/cbl/getting-started

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I prefer a shorter definition: A mutually beneficial partnership between students, faculty/staff, and a community member that seeks to address a real community problem or need through civic action and applied inquiry

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More practically, it is a continuum

WHY DO IT?

• What do students think? University of North Florida student reflections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_epbTlrTnCw
• It can enhance course learning outcomes (Jenkins 2011)
• Able to bridge the gap between theory and practice
• In political science CBL has been shown to increase civic engagement and improve student understanding of complex policy issues (Assendelft 2008)
• Comment from one of my students: “Your class was one of the first classes I took in all of my college career that felt truly worth it. I actually felt like I learned something that would help me with my career and in the real world.”

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IN POLISCI?

• How does CBL vary across disciplines? Examples from UW-Whitewater: https://www.uww.edu/ce/cbl/impact

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• Political science example from Prof. Patrick McGuinn at Drew University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy0-rulKnco

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• One of my goals today is walk you through guided steps to implement CBL in your classroom and provide you with a replicable model from my public policy analysis and advocacy course (POLISCI 330)

STEP ONE

• Be able to answer the question of why you want to incorporate CBL
• What is your motivation and what do you hope to accomplish?

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• Identify a course that would be well suited for CBL
• American Government vs. Model UN vs. Ancient Political Thought

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• Determine how CBL fits with course goals and desired learning outcomes
• e.g. civic engagement, the ability to apply class concepts to real situations, etc.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

• Public Policy Analysis and Advocacy (POLISCI 330)

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• Course Catalog: “A systematic introduction to the study of public policy through an analytical problem-solving approach and the use of that evidence-based approach to advocate for policy change. The course will also examine and explore public problems and policy issues.”

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• Required Course in Public Policy and Administration major and Non-Profit Emphasis in Management; also included in programs such as Political Science

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• Offered twice per academic year: once online, once in-person

STEP TWO

Identify a potential community partner and a problem facing the community

• You can first identify a potential partner based on the likelihood of a successful partnership and a workable problem

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• You can investigate problems in your community that are a fit for your course and seek out a relevant partner working in that area
• Institutional setting and context matter
• Rural vs. Suburban vs. Urban
• Weak community relationship vs. Strong community relationship
• Institutional resources (lacking or present)

COMMUNITY PARTNER & PROBLEM

• Partner:
• United Way of Jefferson & North Walworth Counties
• Megan Hartwick, Executive Director

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• Problem:
• ALICE Report (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed)
• Policy Areas: Health Care, Housing, Child Care, Food, Transportation, Taxes, Employment

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STEP THREE

• Establish a partnership and set out the terms of that partnership
• Will students be expected to visit the partner’s place of work? If so, what kind of supervision will be provided? Is training required?
• Will you instead ask the partner to visit your classroom? If so, how often?

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• A suggested method of establishing expectations between the community partner, yourself, and students is a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
• Example language from the MOU I use in my course is on the following slide

STEP FOUR

• What is the project the students will work on?
• Project-based or problem-based learning: A complex task based on a challenging problem in which students are involved in designing the project, have an opportunity to work autonomously to problem-solve, and which results in a realistic product or presentation
• “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."

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• How will the project be assessed?
• What percent of the course grade will be dedicated to the project?

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• What opportunities will be provided for reflection of the experience?
• Reflection is key for CBL

COURSE STRUCTURE

• Usually ~35 students who are divided into groups of 5 based on policy area
• Based on preference students indicate on Memorandum of Understanding
• Students complete all steps of the policy analysis process (Eightfold Path)
• Define problem; Assemble evidence; Construct alternatives; Establish evaluative criteria; Project outcomes; Confront tradeoffs; Decide; Make recommendation
• Final product is a presentation and memo; also a reflective exercise
• Half of in-class time devoted to the project and 25% of course grade
• Class meets twice per week: one meeting for lecture, one for the project
• One week students meet in a computer lab, next week they present their work

PARTNER FEEDBACK

• Email from Megan Hartwick:
• “I think it would be wonderful to see the students dive further into the data for each category and then put together plans on the best way to address public policy related to each of these categories. I think having information available for our United Way and each of our partner agencies (and any other community organization) to utilize in conversations with government officials about how to ACTUALLY create change for the better, would be an incredible thing. We all know there are problems – big problems for a lot of families – but we don't know enough about HOW to implement lasting change (which I think has to come from the policy side of things).”

COMPARING CBL VS. NON-CBL

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Student evaluations:

• Spring 2017: 4.68 out of a possible 5
• Fall 2017: 4.82 out of a possible 5

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