CAMPUS PROFILE
(MADISON, WISCONSON)
Virginia Lee, Director of the Bonner Leader Program
The Bonner Community-Engaged Learning project led by Virginia Lee, Director of the Bonner Leader Program, evolved from multiple conversations with faculty and staff members about how to share that expertise with students in various stages of their academic development. The team met with Shad Wenzlaff, the Director of Student Research, to consider ways to streamline the process for recruiting traditionally underrepresented, low income, and first-generation students to engage in research, capstones, and capacity-building projects. Out of these conversations, came the strategic choice to focus on COR 2 Program, a central piece of the undergraduate general education experience, a three-class sequence designed to introduce students to the school's Dominican tradition to "Study, Reflect, Act" (COR, Edgewood), as the vehicle for this work.
The COR courses "encourage students to examine connections among learning, beliefs, and action, to participate in building a more just and compassionate world" (COR, Edgewood). An essential component of the COR courses is a set of reflection questions that encourage every Edgewood student to think about their skills and strengths and their role in the world (COR, Edgewood). These Essential Questions and Learning Outcomes will guide the discussions in the pathway meetings and will provide a basis for assessing models and practices. Our "COR 2 Enhancement Pathway" strengthens the COR 2 class structure by bringing together faculty, students and community partners to identify successful themes and practices that could contribute to a COR 2 common curriculum so that all parties benefit of well- structured and supported Community-Engaged Learning (CEL). Our overall goal is to develop a common curriculum for the COR 2 courses so that all students are exposed to high quality learning opportunities, community partners benefit from student partnership, and faculty have the professional development and institutional support to organize and facilitate meaningful opportunities. The pathway will be comprised of a committed group of COR 2 faculty that were selected based on their experience and interest in teaching high quality COR 2 classes. Our first step is to define and understand the scope of the current COR classes is an essential first step in understanding the institutional system and leverage points to enhance CEL at Edgewood. The meetings will be designed so that each faculty member will be responsible for sharing a high-impact practice with the group and lessons learned. Information from the pathway meetings will be used as the basis for a set of best practices for COR 2 classes. Harvesting and sharing faculty expertise will amplify the voices of faculty who have developed successful pedagogies and partnerships so that other faculty can learn from their expertise and it will highlight the skills and experience we already have on campus to people who are not currently involved in CEL .
Another critical component of the student CEL experience at Edgewood is the Undergraduate Research opportunities that provide funding for student research and the Edgewood Engage program that runs a campus-wide symposium to highlight student community based learning and research experience. However, not all of our students are aware of the undergraduate research opportunities and they are not institutionally connected to the COR classes. A component of this pathway is to create greater alignment between the Undergraduate Research program and COR 2, so students are able to access community engaged learning resources on campus. This project can serve as a model for an intentional, inclusive programming through the development of an undergraduate research program that supports student agency, drawing on the academic expertise of faculty and staff and addresses real social issues by collaborating with community partners.
Program Change and Developing a Students as Colleague Model
Developing an undergraduate inquiry and research program that supports student agency, faculty and staff development, and includes our community partners offers programming that is geared towards fostering an inclusive campus environment and meets goal 3 of the strategic plan. Programming offers a significant impact: Building a faculty cohort/community of practice and pathway to institutionalizing asset based undergraduate research programming that supports students at different development stages. Examining other program models and pedagogical practices also offers methods for supporting student’s sociopolitical development, critical consciousness coupled with their academic development.
A component of this COR 2 Enhancement pathway is to create greater alignment between the Undergraduate Research program, COR 2 so students are able to access community engaged learning resources on campus and other high impact practices on campus. Constituents in this project include the COR 2 enhancement cohort, Pitch Competition committee, campus Learning Commons Group which is comprised of faculty and staff from the writing center, online and adult learning, the library, faculty development and the research center.