Karen McKnight Casey Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Michigan State University Michigan Campus Compact Network Meeting March 22, 2013

What are Tools of Engagement? Online learning modules, non-discipline specific, that help students learn how to work collaboratively with community partners

Why Tools of Engagement? Serve to introduce students to quality principles of civic and community engagement Reinforces that students are scholars – and, in this case – engaged scholars Provides uniform messaging and information Serves as a Preparation component in the Preflection, Preparation, Action, Reflection and Evaluation model of quality Service- Learning

Goals The Tools of Engagement modules challenge students to accept the responsibility of engaging with community partners, and describe a process of how they may become engaged in mutually respectful and beneficial partnerships.

Curriculum Structure The ToE curriculum is structured around how MSU defines university-community engagement. At MSU outreach and engagement is: Scholarly Community-based Collaborative Responsive Capacity-building

Key Feature: Critical Reflection The modules encourage students to reflect critically on the content. They also provide students with concrete examples that illustrate abstract concepts and then ask students to come up with their own real-life examples. When documented and critiqued, this critical reflection can also be used as assessment.

Modules 1.The Engaged Scholar: MSU’s Land-Grant Mission 2. Community-Based Engagement: Power and Privilege 3. Collaborative Negotiation 4. Principles of Engagement: How to Make Groups Work 5. Capacity Building

Format Each module contains: Learning Objectives Integration with other modules (although each can be used alone) Informational content specific to the topic Examples, quotes, links, etc. relevant to undergraduate students Reflection questions End-of-module quizzes and survey assessment Instructor’s Guide Faculty Survey

Format, cont. Some include: Additional reflection questions for Journaling In-class activities Additional readings

Relevancy to Assessment Consistency of content lends itself to a variety of measurements: Individual comprehension of content can be measured via quizzes Survey assessment at the end of each module provides an intra- as well a cross-institutional dataset re: student learning. (Several institutions now using) Critical reflection components lend themselves to measuring gains in critical thinking when applied to rubric, key words, pre- and post-writing exercises, etc. Utilization of first-year/freshmen honors seminar to learn, apply and evaluate led to revisions Faculty surveys provide additional & different info. & perspectives.

Interested in Accessing ToE? Questions? Comments?

Contact Information University Outreach and Engagement Michigan State University Kellogg Center 219 S. Harrison Road Rm. 93 East Lansing, MI Phone: Fax: Web: © 2012 Michigan State University Board of Trustees