Upcoming Events in CEL
Upcoming Events
Past Events
Materials from some past events may be found in the CEL Materials Archive.
CANCELLED for Faculty Colloquium - Taking a Critical Approach to Foster Equity-oriented Community Engagement: Workshop
Friday, April 28
A critical approach to CEL recognizes participants as agents of social change and sees the CEL experience as an opportunity to address social inequities (Mitchell, 2008). Join Alyssa Melby, Director of Academic Civic Engagement at St. Olaf College, and Rehanna Kheshgi, St. Olaf Assistant Professor of Music, to learn why and how to integrate a critical approach into your CEL practice. We will learn about critical approaches through the example of Prof. Kheshghi's community-based work. We will also get hands-on experience with ready-to-use modules that guide students and faculty through the development of ethical approaches to community engagement. Participants will leave the workshop with resources they can deploy immediately into their own teaching to increase ethical and inclusive collaborative learning, even in courses not explicitly linked to community engagement.
Stronger Partnerships in Community-Engaged Learning (Teachers Talking), March 2023
Maintaining productive partnerships in the community is perhaps the most vital aspect of community-engaged learning. Unfortunately, it is often the most overlooked. Join us for insights into starting a partnership off on the right foot, techniques for setting and managing partner expectations, and how to ensure the needs of the community are at the center of your CEL work. We'll hear from experienced community partners Joey Schugel (City of St. Peter) and Ann Rosenquist Fee (Arts Center of St. Peter) about what works (and what doesn't!) in their collaborations with Gustavus students and faculty.
Camp Kendall 2022: Developing Student Assessment for Community-Engaged Learning, June 2022
Session 1: Wednesday, June 8: Assessments and Rubric Development Basics
Session 2: Asynchronous unit completed during week of June 13: Developing CEL Assessments and Practice Rubric Scoring
Session 3: Monday, June 20: Hands-on reconstruction of AAC&U VALUE Rubrics
This three-part workshop led participants through the construction of custom built, ready-to-use assessment tools for their own CEL-oriented courses. Alyssa Melby, Program Director for Academic Civic Engagement at St. Olaf College, guided faculty as we learned from one another about current assessment practices and the process of developing and using course-specific rubrics to directly assess student learning in civic and intercultural outcomes. The first session addressed basics of assessments and rubric development. Faculty shared current practices and brainstormed how these assessments can support other personal and professional goals (department reviews, tenure and promotion, grant seeking, etc.). The second session, conducted asynchronously, guided participants in developing CEL assessment skills for supporting a growth mindset for students, and we deployed a practice rubric to "score" real-life reflection pieces. The final session invited faculty to "smash the rubricarchy" in a hands-on creative reconstruction of several AAC&U VALUE Rubrics to develop something tailor-made for their course. The group then worked collectively to reverse-engineer student reflection questions that elicit responses to match the designed rubrics.
Teachers Talking: Intro to Best Practices in Community-Engaged Learning, February 2022
With so much retooling of our teaching and research these days, it's a great time to consider (re)integrating the high-impact practice of community-engaged learning. Join a conversation with experienced CEL practitioners to discover the many shapes and forms community-facing work can take and how it can enhance your intellectual endeavors. We'll address some key do's and dont's to consider as you explore the CEL options that align with your commitments as a scholar, teacher, and community member.
CEL Winter Workshops, January 2022
Jane Turk from Campus Compact of Iowa and Minnesota will host this two-part workshop. Session One provides an overview of the foundational principles of community-engaged course design. This is valuable information for beginning CEL practitioners and seasoned veterans alike. Session Two emphasizes transparent teaching as a key strategy to developing measurable learning outcomes and alignment between your course activities, community engagement component, assignments, and evaluation criteria. Both portions of the workshop will be highly interactive and include structured time for individual reflection and small group discussion and feedback.