Inaugural EventSeptember 23, 2009

NIU’s Center for P-20 Engagement

NIU’s Center for P-20 Engagement

Recognition

Agenda

• Defining Engagement

• The National Context for Engagement

• NIU Context for Engagement

• Engaged Scholarship

• Engaged Learning

• Summary

• Q & A’s

What We Mean by Engagement

• Mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources

• Continuous, region-wide access to research, artistry, and scholarship

• Deeper civic and academic learning for both partners and enriched scholarship in a context of reciprocity

• Enhancement of community well-being and of the future of the university

Community Engagement describes the collaboration between higher education institutions and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2006

Why Engagement in Higher Education?

The Civic Purpose of Higher Education

"Unless education has some frame of reference, it is bound to be aimless lacking a unified objective. The necessity for a frame of reference must be admitted. There exists in this country such a unified frame. It is called democracy." John Dewey, 1937

National Context for Engagement

1.Applicable

2.Collaborative

3.Problem Solving Together

4.Demonstrated Outcome

5.Benefits to Institution and Community

NIU Context for Engagement

• Strategic Planning Imperatives All Benefit from Engagement

• Carnegie Award for Community Engagement

• Engaged Learning Assessment

• Center for P-20 Engagement

• Office of Regional Engagement/Rockford

Historical Model of University Life

Teaching Research PublicService

Separate Silos

Inter-connected Engagement Model

• Discovery, Learning, Engagement:

A direct, two-way interaction where partners learn together, discover new knowledge, and achieve mutual benefits.

Our teaching, learning and research activities are strengthened

through collaborative knowledge-exchange relationships.

Engagement is R/Evolutionary

Come to the table as a problem-solver Learn to work with communities and

students as co-learners and discoverers

Adopt a sense of responsibility to contribute to public good

Increase capacity for collaborative work

Develop a capacity for risk & experimentation

Focus on impact, outcomes, benefits Develop new views of research &

teaching methods and academic cultures/habits

Why is Community Engagement Important?

What is the Center for P-20 Engagement?

Engagement Projects and Initiatives

• P-20• Healthcare• Technology• Regional Development• Manufacturing• Law• Government• Engaged Learning

Engagement and Research/Scholarship

Features of Engaged Scholarship

• setting universities’ aims, purposes, and priorities;

• relating teaching and learning to the wider world;

• facilitating the back-and-forth dialogue between researchers and practitioners; and

• taking on wider responsibilities as neighbours and citizens.

Association of Commonwealth Universities

Engagement implies strenuous, thoughtful, argumentative interaction with the non-university world in at least four spheres:

P-20 Initiative

Health Care

Family Health,

Wellness & Literacy

Center

Technology

Manufacturing

Government

• Policy analyses• Growth

management and sustainability advice

• Workforce education and training

• Strategic planning

• Development of collaborative networks

Major Shifts in Faculty Work

From•Provider (faculty) driven

•Autonomous•Discipline-based• Ivory tower•Quality based on how much you have

ToLearning drivenCollaborativeInterdisciplinaryCivic EngagementQuality based on how much you contribute and how applicable

What’s the difference?

Who formulates the questions

Who provides expertise/data

Who participates in analysis and interpretation

Who bears the risk and enjoys benefits

Who defines success

Who puts the knowledge into action

Engagement and Learning

Service-Learning Academic Service-Learning Community-based Learning Other Experiential Learning

Cooperative Education Work-integrated Learning Internships Practica Clinical Field studies

Selection of method is determined by learning goal

Kellogg Commission “New Covenant”

• Respond to the current needs of an increasingly diverse student body

• Provide those students with more practical opportunities to prepare for the real world, and

• Put university knowledge and expertise to work on community problems.

The Difference between Engagement and Service?

Improved retention Increased academic content

knowledge Improved higher order thinking skills,

understanding complex problems Confident choice of major/career Personal outcomes – self-esteem,

empowerment, motivation Social outcomes – pro-social

behaviors, multicultural skills, interest in community issues, civic life

Evidence of Impacts of Engaged Learning

Why do these methods work to improve student learning?

Learning by doing, yes, but more important, learning with consequences

Learn that knowledge has power Demonstrate the usefulness of

abstract ideas and theories

Students explore and identify their interests and talents

Enhances motivation through a sense of responsibility to others

Inspires us to be better professionals!

Engaged Learning

Engineering students, professors, and professionals are working to make locomotives more fuel efficient as part of a “greener railroads” project.

Law

Professors, students, and community agency personnel working together to solve the legal needs of the public in Rockford

Engaged Learning

Mapping out emergency evacuation routes with professionalsas part of a U.S. Homeland Security project

Engaged Learning

• Students spend five days per week at PDS sites, taking NIU classes and working in classrooms with teachers to improve schools.

Summary

Engagement is a core element driving higher education quality and impact in the 21st Century.

Engagement is relevant to every institution regardless of type; the level of relevance to discovery and learning varies according to mission and purpose.

Each institution must articulate its engagement mission and link it to a coherent research and teaching agenda.

Value of Higher Education

• What is it that public higher education does that is unique, valuable, and irreplaceable in our society?

• The answer is that public universities create, share and implement new knowledge without a profit motive.

George Washington Carver

THANK YOU

An Engaged University

Bibliography

Holland, B (2009). Leading engagement in Higher Education: How engaged is your institution and how do you know? Presented at the Engagement Academy for University Leaders, Roanoke, VA

Holland, B. & Sandmann, L. (2009). Leading Engagement. Presented at the Engagement Academy for University Leaders, Roanoke, VA