Building Engagement Across the Campus: Creating Engaged Departments AACU Pedagogies of Engagement Conference April 16

1. Building Engagement Across the Campus: Creating Engaged Departments AAC&U Pedagogies of Engagement ConferenceApril 16, 2004 John Saltmarsh, Project Director Integrating Service Academic Study National Campus Compact jsaltmarsh@compact.org Kevin Kecskes, Director Community-University Partnerships for Learning Portland State University kecskesk@pdx.edu

2. Workshop Goals Investigate motivation for engagement Place departmental engagement in the historical and institutional contexts Discuss moving beyond �service-learning� Learn about National Campus Compact�s Engaged Department Initiative and Institutes Present institution-wide programmatic model Discuss strategies for departmental work Share lessons learned Consider the engagement of departments at your campus

3. Agenda Motivation Beyond service-learning Education reform � historical and national contexts Engaged department institutes PSU�s programmatic approach Summary of findings / lessons Three examples Resources

4. An Engaged Department When we talk about an �engaged department,� what do we mean by �engagement.�

5. Engagement �Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference.�Thomas Ehrlich, et. al., Civic Responsibility and Higher Education (2000)

6. Engagement �A good understanding of the democratic principles and institutions embodied in our history, government, and law provide the foundation for civic engagement and commitment, but the classroom alone is not enough. Research shows that students are more likely to have a sense of social responsibility, more likely to commit to addressing community or social problems in their adult lives as workers and citizens, and more likely to demonstrate political efficacy when they engage in structured, conscious reflection on experience in the larger community. To achieve these outcomes, they need structured, real-world experiences that are informed by classroom learning.�US Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, 2003. 

7. Engagement An essential point made by Russ Edgerton and Lee Schulman in a critique of the 2002 NSSE results is relevant here: �We know, for instance, that students can be engaged in a range of effective practices and still not be learning with understanding; we know that students can be learning with understanding and still not be acquiring the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are related to effective citizenship.�

8. Engagement Civic engagement means creating opportunities for civic learning that are rooted in respect for community-based knowledge, experiential and reflective modes of teaching and learning, active participation in American democracy, and institutional change efforts aimed at improving student learning.

9. An Integrated Approach

10. CIRCLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES

11. Civic Engagement in Higher Education:Expanding our Understanding

12. Motivations for Engagement Why is �engagement� important to� �higher education? �your institution? �your department? Why is �engagement� important to YOU?

13. PSU Developmental Model

14. �The department is arguably the definitive locus of faculty culture, especially departments that gain their definition by being their campus�s embodiment of distinguished and hallowed disciplines�. we could have expected that reformers would have placed departmental reform at the core of their agenda; yet just the opposite has occurred. There has been a noticeable lack of discussion of � or even new ideas about � departments� role in reform.� Edwards, Richard. 1999. The Academic Department: How does it Fit Into the University Reform Agenda? Change, September/October, p. 17-27. The Department

15. The Department An Educational Reform Agenda Improved learning 2. Scholarship reconsidered 3. Community relevance - �socially responsive knowledge� �Departments are the units in which the institution�s strategy for academic development is formulated in practice.� Donald Kennedy

16. Key Features of an Engaged Department The work of the department is collaborative: Shift from �my work� to �our work� Public dialogue about the values, interests, and goals of the department. Engagement as community-based public problem solving.

17. An Engaged Department Agenda Unit responsibility for Engagement Related Activities. Departmental Agreement on the concepts and terminology that allow faculty to explore the dimensions of engaged work most effectively. Departmental agreement on how best to document, evaluate, and communicate the significance of engaged work. Strategies for deepening the department�s community partnerships.

18. Key Components of an Engaged Department Institute Defining Civic Engagement. Effective Departmental Collaboration. Community Partnerships. Evolving Faculty Roles and Rewards. Assessment Principles and Strategies. Creating an Action Plan.

19. Why Be a More Engaged DepartmentMetropolitan State University: Communications, Writing,and the Arts Promote cultural diversity initiatives Promote critical inquiry & thinking Understood points of commonality (shared purposes and goals) Promote dialogue and commonality among our programs and communities Connects reflection with action Collective responsibility to bridge town/gown A shared understanding of how the department adds value to the community

20. Why work with Academic Departments? PSU�s Response Faculty generally find their intellectual and professional home in the department. Nationally, work is being done to educate discipline associations and articulate connections to engagement. Student experiences with community-based work can be fragmented when coordinated largely at the individual faculty level There are several potential benefits for students, faculty, and community partners

21. The Engaged Department Program at Portland State Uses community-based learning to facilitate the integration of community-based work and reflection into academic study Encourages the scholarship of engagement Collaborative activities that directly support the university mission, �Let knowledge serve the city.�

22. PSU�s Programmatic Process Campus wide distribution of request for proposals Competitive, peer-reviewed selection process Development of interdisciplinary faculty �learning community� featuring monthly group discussion sessions with identified topics Material resources provided Campus-wide dissemination and celebration of outcomes at the end of the year

23. PSU discussion topics for monthly group meetings Modified planning document used by Campus Compact for the national institutes Discussion/clarification of terms Strategizing barriers and facilitators for engagement Curricular change related to engagement Engaging others in the department Assessment Related scholarship (of teaching and of community engagement)

24. Working with Departments � PSU�s History Engaged Department Institute offered by Campus Compact, June 2001 Team of 6 participate in a 4-day institute to explore the concepts of �the department as a unit of engagement and change.� 7 departments participated in year-long program, 2001-2002 12 units in 2002-2003 12 units in 2003-2004

25. PSU Model of Working with Departments � Three year Journey 7 department participated in year-long program, 2001-2002: School of Business Administration School of Community Health Department of English Department of Mathematical Sciences Department of Psychology University Studies, university-wide general education program School of Urban Studies and Planning

26. PSU Model of Working with Departments � Three year Journey 12 units participated in year-long program, 2002-2003 Department of Applied Linguistics Department of Architecture Department of Art Child and Family Studies Program Department of Educational Policy, Foundations, and Administrative Studies Department of English Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures Department of Physics Department of Psychology Office of University Studies, Freshman Inquiry School of Urban Studies and Planning Women�s Studies Program

27. PSU Model of Working with Departments � Three year Journey 12 units currently participating in program, 2003-2004 Center for Science Education Department of Applied Linguistics Department of Art Department of Educational Policy, Foundations, and Administrative Studies Department of Geology Department of History Department of Political Science Department of Public Administration School of Urban Studies and Planning School of Community Health University Studies Program: Freshman Inquiry � Capstone Program Women�s Studies Program

28. Identifying Common Interests and Overlapping Areas of Engagement Survey of� �recent past �current �near future Focus on FACULTY work: - scholarship of engagement, service- and community-based learning and/or research, outreach, partnerships, etc

29. CIRCLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES

30. Course Mapping Activity Civic Engagement Concept or Skill: Course Name and Number: Required/Elective: Who Teaches?: Community Partners Involved: Hours of Student Involvement: How Often Taught?: Nature of Experience (thematic focus, team approach, internship, s-l course, comm.-based research, capstone, etc.): � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

31. Engaged Department � Connective Pathways

32. Identifying Common Interests and Overlapping Areas of Engagement Take time to clarify, query, notice� Celebrate past, present, and future work Take time to dream (collectively) Keep an eye on impacts / outcomes�ask for whom? Students, scholarly work, community partners, resource generation, etc. Who else could be at the table? Why?

33. PSU - Lessons Learned Curricular change takes time Institutional support is critical Like people and institutions, departments each operate in their own climate and contexts. Recognizing, affirming, and building from that foundation is ESSENTIAL; therefore, Flexibility, adaptability, and creativity are more important than proposing a �template� approach Even if all faculty are not adopters of service-learning, this effort enhances individual and departmental familiarity with service-learning

34. PSU - Lessons Learned (cont.) Identifying one or more required community-based courses for the major that intentionally integrate key civic engagement concepts�independent of the instructor�facilitates the institutionalization of departmental engagement. Utilizing a developmental framework to sequence community engagement Recognition of efforts is important. After two years of institution-wide implementation, we now see emerging a continuum of departmental level engagement From a barely aggregated set of individual faculty efforts, on the one end of the scale, to� The emergence of groundbreaking collective thinking, planning, and action on the other end of the continuum.

35. Emerging Successes at PSU Department of Art Organic, build on faculty interests, responsive to many community partners, tie to assessment Evidence: comm. partners on hiring committees Education Foundations, Policy, Administration Intentional, collective study, long-term planning Evidence: department-wide community tour Urban Studies and Planning Organic, adaptive, focus on integrating and deepening the required internship Evidence: integrative seminar, common readings

36. Now What? Strategic Questions What current departmental efforts might be built upon? What barriers are in the way? Who can help? Who is / isn�t at the table (yet)? How might this be tied to scholarship?

37. Resources Toolkit for the Engaged Department from Campus Compact Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum (Battistoni, 2002) Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement (Gelmon et al, 2001) Fundamentals of Service-Learning Course Construction (Heffernan, 2001) Forthcoming Book on the Engaged Department (Kecskes and Associates) Article in The Department Chair, Summer 2004 (Kecskes, 2004)