The Community Learning Initiative

This faculty-led program connects classroom learning with "real world" applications by combining traditional coursework with structured off campus activities through which students test theory and concept in practice.

One guiding principle of urban or community learning is that a liberal arts education is enhanced by connecting classroom learning with real application. In this regard, Trinity College offers a unique array of educational opportunities combining coursework with meaningful application at sites in the city. The Community Learning Initiative (CLI) is an ongoing experiment in harnessing city learning resources through course-based collaborations between students and community partners. In the 1995-96 academic year, CLI began with a few pilot projects and has grown since thenr to the current level of about 30 courses per academic year.

With new funding from two other sources, the CLI will be providing stipends for curriculum development over the next three years, which will fund a total of 40 new or significantly revised community learning components. In addition, we will be undertaking an evaluation of the community learning pedagogy and constructing a national conference on community learning for the 2000-01 academic year. To ensure the program’s rational growth and its smooth transition from pilot status to an integral part of the Trinity curriculum, the Kellogg Foundation has funded a full time administrative coordinator to manage the expansion.

Good practice in community learning

In our experience, the more successful community learning courses are collaborations. Professors, students, and community colleagues share an understanding of the goals of the service experience, of what is to be done, and (retrospectively) of the range of lessons learned. To spell this out just a bit, here is a checklist of desiderata for CL courses:

Clear learning goals: What might students learn through service, and how is this learning related to the overall aims of your course? This addresses the relevance of the experience and the course to each other. However, much of the most important learning through service occurs "off the books," in the interaction and relationship that arise as a by-product of shared labor. Which underlines the importance of…

Collaboration: Students and the folks they serve work together toward a shared goal, which is understood by both parties. This is the concrete answer to the question, What are we doing today? Both parties should enter the service situation with a fairly specific idea of where to begin and how. This rudimentary framework overcomes any initial shyness on either side, and clears the way for both parties to loosen up later, and settle into a more comfortable ongoing relationship. This relationship unfolds within a more general framework or…

Structure: What are the students to do? Where? When? How will you monitor and (if needed) evaluate the quality of student learning? Students need to understand their responsibilities to the course, but also, equally importantly, to the people they serve. That entails…

Commitment: Students (in particular) must understand that in a service or community learning placement they are acquiring new responsibilities and commitments to the service itself, above and beyond their commitments to the course. Likewise, in service they become ambassadors representing the course and their institution. This implicates a heightened awareness of oneself in this new situation, which is enhanced through…

Reflection and integration, before, during, and after service: In the dorm room, what form of writing will facilitate the articulation of meaning, relevance, and learning from the service experience? In the classroom, what issues will need to be discussed to integrate the service experience with the rest of the course?

For more information please visit the Community Learning Initiative Home Page

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