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The State of Engagement. Lots going on; hard to get a grasp on quantity, quality, logic, impact of partnershipsGrowing institutional differentiationOver-reliance on soft moneyGrowing academic legitimacy; e.g., accreditation standards; Carnegie classificationsplateau of faculty participation and interest.
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1. The Wisdom of Community-Campus Partnerships Barbara A. Holland
Senior Scholar, IUPUI
Director, National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
3. State of Engagement #2 We understand partnership characteristics; questions remain about reciprocity, power, shared resources
Infrastructure, curriculum and partnerships are fundamental to institutionalization
Engagement as response to current fiscal crisis
Academic culture changing globally – engagement is core to the future
4. Community College Challenges Growing enrollment
Declining funding
Renewing mission and identity in increasingly diverse communities
Development of new leadership
Retention/completion/transfer success
Responding to changing student needs
AAHE, 2005
5. Can a greater commitment to engagement and service-learning help address these challenges?
To what degree should service-learning be part of the experience of our students?
6. Education for civic responsibility, development of job skills, and preparation for transfer to a four-year institution are not mutually exclusive outcomes.
Louis Albert, 2005
In combination, these outcomes strengthen the college and community as well as the student.
Barbara Holland, today.
7. Partnership Wisdom Effective campus-community partnerships can transform students, institutional quality and spirit, and community capacity.
Partnerships are fundamental to successful engagement and service-learning.
Truth-telling: Partnerships are high effort/high benefit!
8. Effective Partnerships (HUD) Joint exploration of goals and interests and limitations
Creation of a mutually rewarding agenda
Operational design that supports shared leadership, decision-making, conflict resolution, resources
Clear benefits and roles for each partner
Identification of opportunities for early successes for all; shared celebration of progress
Focus on knowledge exchange, shared learning and capacity-building
Attention to communications patterns, cultivation of trust
Commitment to continuous assessment of the partnership itself, as well as outcomes
9. CCPH Partnership Principles Mission, values, goals, outcomes
Trust, respect, commitment
Focus: strengths, assets, areas for improvement
Balanced power, shared resources
Clear, open communication
Roles, norms, processes (mutually designed)
Feedback for continuous improvement
Shared credit for accomplishments
Investment of time needed to develop and evolve
10. CIC Core Elements of Partnerships Mutually-determined goals and processes
Shared resources, rewards, risks
Roles reflect partner capacities and resources
Respect for expertise of each partner
Sufficient benefits to justify cost/effort/risk
Shared vision/excitement/passion
Accountability for carrying out plans
Commitment to benefits for all partners
11. Partnership Types Service relationship – fixed time, fixed task
Exchange relationship – exchange info for mutual benefit, specific project
Cooperative relationship – joint planning and shared responsibilities, long-term, multiple projects
System and Transformative relationship – shared decision-making/operations/evaluation intended to transform each organization
Hugh Sockett, 1998
12. “Partnerships, at any level, have to be seen first and foremost as moral frames within which individuals meet, work, and establish common purposes, not as pragmatic political treaties between institutions.”
Hugh Sockett, 1998
13. Learning is the Connection Learning:
About each other’s capacity and limitations
About each other’s goals, culture, expectations
To develop students as active citizens
To exchange expertise, ideas, fears, concerns
To share control and direction
To adapt based on assessment and documentation
To experiment; to fail; to try again – To Trust!
14. Partner Perspectives Motivations
Teaching students about CBO world and the issue-at-hand
Inspiring an activist spirit
Keeping students in the community
Positive impact on clientele, especially youth
Access to special expertise; capacity/skills not otherwise available
15. Partnership Perspectives Partners want to:
Ensure student meet learning objectives
Distinguish SL from other experiential forms
Align activity with student ability
Collaborate with faculty
Contribute to student evaluation
Understand their roles/responsibilities
Enhance impact on their mission
Meet other partners
16. Benefits to InstitutionIn ways aligning with current challenges Resonates with adult and first-gen students – active learning with consequences
Greater and more diverse local enrollment
Retention
Career/major choice
Connects student, faculty and community in work toward a common good
Strengthens public support – postsecondary education as a public good
17. Current Core Challenges? Greater attention to reciprocity
Power,Culture/Race
Resources: sources and distribution
Evaluation/documentation strategies
Visibility for this work: internal and external
Institutionalization – Leadership commitment, faculty development, hard-funded infrastructure, curricular connections
18. Ways to Move Ahead Increase visibility-internally & externally
Assess, document, publicize
Recruit allies – PR, development, IR, alumni, community leaders
Celebrate successes- Let partners and students tell their stories
Be political – searches, curricular reform, accreditation, strategic planning
Link to learning goals & faculty development
Link to public support - demonstrate education’s role in creating public good
19. Contact Information Barbara A. Holland, Ph.D.
Director, National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
And
Senior Scholar
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Phone: 503-638-9424
E-mail:barbarah@etr.org
www.servicelearning.org