Community Engagement Model Definitions
Community Engagement in Teaching, Learning and Applied Learning
Engaged teaching/learning is organized around sharing knowledge with various audiences through either formal or informal arrangements. Types of engaged teaching vary by relationship among the teacher, the learner, and the learning context. Engaged teaching may be for-credit or not-for-credit, guided by a teacher, or self-directed.
Applied Learning: An educational approach whereby students learn by engaging in direct application of skills, theories and models. Students apply knowledge and skills gained from traditional classroom learning to hands-on and/or real-world settings, creative projects or independent or directed research, and in turn apply what is gained from the applied experience to academic learning. The applied learning activity can occur outside of the traditional classroom experience and/or be embedded as part of a course.
Capstone: A culmination project, senior thesis, or a final exhibition intended to allow a student to apply all of the knowledge and skills gained over a college career in one assignment.
Clinical Placement: Students rotate through a variety of health care agencies with faculty supervision focusing on the health care field process, with individual patients or groups reflecting diverse settings, across the lifespan. Emphasis is on mastering theoretical concepts, improving skill competency, and developing clinical reasoning skills with a focus on evidence-based practice.
Cooperative Education: An applied learning experience that alternates classroom learning and productive paid work experiences in a field related to a student’s academic and career goals. Co-ops are formal partnerships between an educational institution, an employer, and one or more students, and typically provide meaningful work experiences for students. Co-ops are off-campus and full time or part time.
Course-based Volunteering: Volunteering done as an expectation of a course done as a voluntary act by an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service.
Experiential Learning: A learning process initiated by a concrete experience, which demands reflection, review and perspective-taking about the experience; then abstract thinking to reach conclusions and conceptualize the meaning of the experience; leading to a decision to act, engaging in active experimentation or trying out what you’ve learned.
Field Experience/Study: Collection of information outside of an experimental or lab setting. This type of data collection is most often conducted in natural settings or environments and can be designed in a variety of ways for various disciplines. May be mentored, self-directed work, or comprise a full course. The projects include inquiry, design, investigation, discovery and application.
Internship—Credit Bearing/non-credit: Applied learning experiences for which a student may earn academic credit in an agreed-upon, short-term, supervised workplace activity, which may be related to a student’s major field or area of interest. The work can be full or part time, on or off campus, paid or unpaid. Some institutions offer both credit and non-credit bearing internships. Internships integrate classroom knowledge and theory with practical application and skills developed in professional or community settings. This definition does not include internships that are required components of a registered program leading to NYS licensure or certification (e.g., teacher preparation, social work, dental hygiene). An internship is distinct from community service or service learning.
Practicum: A period of practical experience undertaken in academic, professional or community settings/agencies/organizations as part of an academic course. This approach is grounded in application and practice of theoretical/technical concepts/skills and cultural competency relevant to the course or to a profession.
Research: Mentored, self-directed work that enables students to make an original, intellectual or creative contribution to the discipline by exploring an issue of interest to them and communicating the results to others.
Academic Service-Learning: An experiential learning method that integrates community service with instruction and reflection to increase student civic-mindedness and build community capacity.