Isn't that a lot of work? Strategies to address workload and risk issues associated with community engagement courses


Deborah Conners, Carleton University

While university course instructors using community-engaged learning approaches are enthusiastic about the benefits, instructors also struggle with the amount of work required to manage and support community engagement projects. Of significant import, is the need to address the position of the university as a site of dominant knowledge creation that has both marginalized and exploited community knowledge, an effort which must rely on the development of long-term relationships and trust (Verjee, 2012). On a practical level, ensuring the right fit of people, problem, and resources can be challenging (Mill et al., 2012). The number of actors involved, the sometimes conflicting needs and timelines of community organizations with university course schedules, the desire to provide students with flexibility and options in the context of a project requiring a specific sequence of activities to be completed in a timely way, the importance of creating products of a high enough quality to benefit community participants, and the extra work for both instructors and students in moving beyond traditional lecture style courses, all contribute to a level of risk and work (before, during and after the course) that is daunting to all and intimidating to those who have not yet presented such a course (Scheffelaar, Blignaut-van et al., 2023). As a long-term member of the Carleton University Committee for Community Engaged Pedagogy and more recently the Community of Practice for Community Engagement, I have been part of a group of practitioners who have sought to provide insight and support to instructors desiring to include community engagement projects in their courses. As part of this effort, I have supported course instructors bringing community engagement into their courses for the first time; there are also those who continue to attend events but do not initiate a community engagement project. This winter I am working with a student research assistant to conduct a small research project exploring barriers to integrating community engagement pedagogies into undergraduate courses. This session will present some preliminary findings designed to identify the extra work and risk assumed by course instructors and to explore strategies to address these barriers to implementation, both for those who currently include community engagement projects in their courses and those who aspire to do so.

Non-presenting author: Pragati Parajuli, Carleton University

This paper will be presented at the following session: