The State of CSL in Canada: A Call to Action

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The State of CSL in Canada A Call to Action

• 10 October, 2009
• International Research Conference on
  Service-Learning and Community Engagement
• Ottawa, Canada

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Presenters

• Larry Gemmel
• Director, Canadian Alliance for Community
  Service-Learning
• Kate Connolly
• Director, Laurier Centre for Community
  Service-Learning
• Barbara Harrison
• Graduate Student, Brock University
• Tania Smith
• Professor, University of Calgary

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• Community service-learning (CSL) and other forms
  of community engagement (CE) activities are
  growing in Canada, but we lack concrete evidence
  about the scope, extent, and quality of this
  work.
• The Canadian Alliance for Community
  Service-Learning would like to create several new
  research initiatives to define and measure CSL
  and CE activity at the post-secondary level, and
  is seeking to create a more comprehensive and
  integrated research agenda for service-learning
  and community engagement in Canada.
• This interactive workshop will explore the
  challenges of creating and supporting a research
  agenda that addresses our needs.

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• Events are present and operative anyway what
  concerns us is their meaning.
• John Dewey, Experience and Education (1938)
• I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to
  provide the conditions in which they can learn.
• Albert Einstein

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Canadian Alliance for Community Service-Learning

• An alliance of individuals and institutions
  interested in promoting and enhancing Community
  Service-Learning in Canada
• Active network of 435 individuals and more than
  two dozen colleges and universities
• Primarily focussed on post-secondary education at
  this time

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Our Hypothesis

• Community Service-Learning effectively mobilizes
  the intellectual and human resources of
  post-secondary educational institutions to
  address significant social, economic,
  environmental and health challenges at the
  community level.
• It does this in ways which are connected to and
  consistent with the core academic mission of
  universities and colleges.

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Key Stakeholders

• Universities and Colleges
• Administrators
• Faculty
• Students
• Communities
• Community Partners
• Community Members

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Potential Outcomes of CSL

• Institutions
• Effective experiential learning pedagogy
  contributes to learning outcomes
• Linking theory to practice
• Connecting to community creating relationships
• Creates research opportunities (and vice versa)
• Enhances institutional reputation
• Fulfills institutional mission or mandate for
  service to community
• Brings knowledge to the institution from the
  community
• Students
• Enhanced learning
• Engagement in the broader community
• New skills and competencies
• Career development
• Community Partners
• Knowledge and Expertise
• Human Resources
• Research Capacity

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Potential Outcomes of CSL

• Institutions
• Effective Experiential Learning Pedagogy
• Linking Theory to Practice
• Connecting to Community Creating relationships
• Creates Research Opportunities (and vice versa)
• Enhances Institutional Reputation
• Fulfills Institutional Mandate for service to
  community
• Change the world!
• Students
• Enhanced Learning
• Engagement in the broader community
• New skills and competencies
• Career Development
• Change the world!
• Community Partners
• Knowledge
• Human Resources
• Research Capacity
• Change the world!

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My audience

• University Leadership
• Education Policy Makers
• Faculty
• Students / Prospective Students
• Voluntary and Non-Profit Sector Leaders
• Potential Funders
• Government Federal, Provincial, Municipal
• Foundations
• Corporations
• Private Philanthropists

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What I Need

• Profiles of post-secondary CSL programmes from
  across Canada
• Case studies of community-university partnership
  projects
• Detailed information about the impacts and
  outcomes of CSL and CBR projects
• Metrics We need some numbers to describe the
  scope of this work to policy makers and potential
  funders

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Examples of Research Products

• Scan of CSL in Canada (last one in 2006)
• Directory of CSL Programs and practitioners with
  descriptive profiles
• Research summaries to describe more detailed
  research which demonstrates the impact and
  outcomes of CSL projects from a community
  perspective.
• Overview of CSL activities in Canada

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Examples of Metrics

• Quantitative
• of programs
• of students participating / participation
• of courses / faculty members
• of communities
• of projects
• of community partners
• of support (admin budgets)

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Examples of Metrics

• Qualitative
• Increased retention rates or academic scores of
  high school students as a result of mentoring or
  tutoring by CSL students
• Increased access and entry of students from
  disadvantaged backgrounds and communities to
  higher education
• Increase in employment opportunities resulting
  from a community economic development project
• Increase in locally grown food supplies available
• Awareness of career opportunities in the
  community sector

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Community Impact

• Can we link CSL projects to specific kinds of
  community impacts?
• Classification of activities by issue/sector
• Social
• Economic
• Environmental
• Health
• Case studies describing outcomes (they dont all
  have to be positive!)

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Models and Frameworks

• I am constantly being asked for comprehensive
  models or frameworks to help establish Community
  Service-Learning programs in post-secondary
  educational institutions.
• Voluntary and Non-Profit Sector leaders do not
  understand CSL clearly as a mode of mobilizing
  resources to the community we need visual
  descriptions to explain the model
• In addition to learning outcomes, students also
  achieve significant outcomes in terms of skill
  development, workplace experience, understanding
  of non-profit management and governance, career
  development opportunities, and fulfillment of
  their change the world aspirations.

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Creating a Research Agenda

• Turning the challenges we face as practitioners
  into questions for scholarly inquiry
• Patti H. Clayton

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Canadian Alliance for Community Service-Learning
(CACSL)

• Mandate of the Research Working Group
• Monitoring CSL research on an international basis
  and providing updates to CACSL members on
  relevant publications and activities through the
  email network, website, and invitation newsletter
• Encouraging collaborative research activity on
  CSL in Canada
• Identifying ways in which CACSL can work
  collaboratively with IARSLCE, CBR Canada, ANSER,
  and other research organizations and initiatives
• Identifying CSL research topics and opportunities
  for funding

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Macro-system
Federal Funding Agencies
Meso-system
CACSL
Micro-system
University/Institutional
Bronfenbrenner (1979)
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• Micro-system
• University/institutional
• Balancing institutional needs
• vs. national needs
• (Alternative Reading Week, International
  experience, CSL
• for 1st year students, risk mgt policies, student
  surveys,
• Institutional CSL outcomes)

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• Meso-system
• (CACSL)
• What is a Canadian-specific research agenda?
• Theory building? Knowledge creation? Best
  practices?
• Understanding of relevant theory-who has it?
• Are we doing research or just disseminating it?
• If doing, who has time?

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• Macro-system
• Federal Funding Agencies
• CSL not well understood in Canada
• What research would put CSL on the map?
• Do not have substantive, content-focused CVs to
  secure Federal grants

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Macro-system
Federal Funding Agencies
Vision
Meso-system
epistemology
CACSL
Micro-system

University/Institutional
Local community issues Pedagogy
Informed by Saltmarsh (October 9, 2009)