21st Century Community Engagement in Higher Education

Workshop Overview: The higher education landscape is changing, and universities of the future may bear little resemblance to the institutions that have existed for the past 100 years. This workshop will help participants understand the intersections between a changing higher education landscape and community engagement. Participants will explore new models for organizing academic work (i.e., teaching, research, and service) in ways that promote student success and address community-identified needs. Have TED Talk cued up: “Can Universities be Central to World Change” (16 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yNAMUQxYDM Optional: “Reclaiming the Soul of Higher Education” (15 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeP8Sd2-z_8 9:30-9:40 Overview of workshop objectives & ‘who’s in the room’ (10 minutes) a) Explore the changing face of higher education in the 21st Century University and the role of university-community partnerships in the 21st Century University b) Discover how other universities have already begun to reorganize themselves around community-identified needs. c) Take a moment to find out ‘who’s in the room’ (raise hands) Community partners? Graduate students? University administrators? Arts/Humanities faculty? Health professions? Social Sciences/Business? STEM fields? Other? 9:40- 9:50 TED Video and Debreif (30 min) In the TED Talk that you just watched . . . Based on your own experiences, what changes would need to occur in the way universities operate to realize this kind of educational experience for students on a large scale? How would the role of the faculty need to change? How would teaching and learning need to change so that students had opportunities to practice skills for social change? [Jot ideas on large Post-It Notes] 9:50- 10:20 Mini-lecture – 21st Century Community Engagement (20 minutes, remaining slides) 10:20-11:00 Small group activity – 21st Century community engagement at VCU (30 minutes) Groups of 2 or 3 will be asked to discuss the examples of university-level community engagement initiatives that we introduced on the final Powerpoint slides of the mini-lecture. In their conversation they should address one or more of the following questions: How could students be involved in these initiatives? How might research be integrated into the initiative? How might these initiatives be funded? How could non-university groups and community members be involved