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Frequently Asked Questions

In community-engaged learning courses, students participate in community service as a part of their course work. You will engage in critical reflective thinking that links service to what you are learning in class. You participate in service projects with nonprofits, governmental, or educational community partners to learn course content in hands-on ways.
Community-engaged learning is beneficial because you connect course content to real-world issues, which makes learning come to life. Not only is hands-on learning engaging, but you also get to make a difference with critical social issues. Community-engaged learning is also beneficial for your future career goals in that it helps build your network, make you more competitive, and expand on your skill set.

Anyone!

Yes. Community-engaged learning courses function like any other college course. If you complete the required assignments, you should receive credit.

Yes, you should add your community-engaged learning work to your ePortfolio. The requirements will vary based on the course and professor. Students also have access to ePortfolio labs on several campuses if they need help building their ePortfolios.

Visit the Engaged Learning website to see all the designated courses for each semester. Community-engaged learning courses are also tagged on the student course schedule.  

When you look for classes in the searchable schedule, you can select "community-engaged learning" under attributes. This will pull up a list of courses for that semester.

It depends on the course. Some general education courses include community-engaged learning, and some are electives or discipline-specific.

Yes. Your professor will grade you on your overall completion of the course and the community-engaged learning project. You will be graded on the knowledge demonstrated versus merely the culmination of hours.

Most professors have the community-engaged learning requirements as a significant percentage of the final grade. Not meeting the requirements could result in not receiving a full credit or a failing grade. Talk to your professor if you are struggling in your course/s.

It depends on how you look at it. The faculty member will remove a test or assignment to account for the hours spent engaging in service, so the course is not more work but instead a different type of work. Community-engaged learning courses can be challenging because you are often doing real work in partnership with the community. Making a positive difference in the community as a part of academics can also be more rewarding than engaging in only theoretical work.

The Engaged Learning Office manages the Community-Engaged Learning Student Project Fund, which is for students enrolled in community-engaged learning classes and select other programs. You can apply for up to $500 to offset costs directly related to your community-engaged learning projects.

Talk to your professor first to see if they have a list of approved community partners.

If the faculty member does not have a list of partners, then the Thayne Center for Service & Learning can help connect you to a community partner.

Yes! If you've taken a community-engaged learning designated course, have completed your community-engaged learning project, and have showcased your project on your ePortfolio, please consider applying for the Community-Engaged Learning Tuition Waiver (also referred to as the Engaged Learning Celebration Scholarship). Winners participate in the Engaged Learning Celebration held each Spring and present the work they have done in the community!