What is Community-based Learning?
Community-based learning (CBL) is an experiential instructional strategy that engages students in solving problems within their schools and communities as part of their academic studies, transforming them from passive recipients to active participants in their education and community while providing a deeper understanding of theories and course content.
100% of Students are Engaged in Community-based Learning
What is Service Learning?
Service learning (SL) is a form of CBL that emphasizes serving not-for-profits and communities in need to meet a course's learning outcomes.
CBL and SL courses at Saint Joseph’s College encourage tolerance, leadership, and civic and social responsibility, while promoting the core values of the College. The Office of Community-based Learning promotes and supports the integration of this experiential component into course content, furthering the Mercy tradition of service on which the College was founded.
How does Community-based Learning work?
Doing hands-on projects/problem-solving with community partners as part of a course contributes to learning course content just as reading texts, watching films, or conducting experiments in the lab do. Learning continues to occur through an array of reflection activities and assignments that help students connect their experiences in the course with the central ideas, hypotheses, theories, and methods they are studying.
Every year, Saint Joseph's students participate in an international service trip to Guatemala. This year, students, faculty and alumni worked on constructing a new community center that will house tutoring services for children with acute learning challenges, and workshops to promote health education and improve community wellness.
“It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. It will not only change the lives of the people you meet but it will change you in ways you cannot even fathom. It pushes you outside your comfort zone and challenges you to be the best version of yourself. It will open your mind to new possibilities and change your view of the world. You'll get to experience a new culture, do new exciting things, and try new food. Yet by far, the best part is getting to meet and connect with all types of people. So, if you get the opportunity to participate in a service trip, take it, because I can promise that you will never be the same.”
→ Read about this year’s trip: “I can spend a week of my life and give to the people who need it most.”
What Are the Benefits of Community-Based Learning?
Doing hands-on projects/problem-solving with community partners as part of a course contributes to learning course content just as reading texts, watching films, or conducting experiments in the lab do. Learning continues to occur through an array of reflection activities and assignments that help students connect their experiences in the course with the central ideas, hypotheses, theories, and methods they are studying.
Past Projects
As part of their academic work, students learn about food systems, plant cycles, and hydroponic growing techniques at the College’s freight farm. This 320 square -foot shipping container is a self-contained hydroponics facility inside the body of a freight truck. Produce harvested from the freight farm is served almost daily in the College’s cafeteria.
Through a Davis Education Foundation sub-grant administered by Maine Campus Compact, an interdisciplinary group of faculty are working with students from 6 classes, and partnering with the CASE Scholars, elementary students, and local seniors to build a pollinator garden on campus. This sustainability makerspace will be a living laboratory for research, innovation, a beautiful place to visit to learn about the vital role of pollinators in our local food systems.
The College and the Little Sebago Lake Association have worked together for more than a decade on various community-identified projects and problems. This article reviews the 2021 Protecting Little Sebago collaborative project between Saint Joseph’s College and the Little Sebago Lake Association and identifies best practices for sustaining reciprocal partnerships, not just between colleges and lake associations, but between any learning institution and community-based group or organization.
Through a Maine Campus Compact grant, education students put together a curriculum about pollinators. They worked in groups, each responsible to develop and teach one lesson plan to six classes at a local elementary school. They had to discover what worked and what didn’t. Many of their lessons included lots and lots (and lots!) of materials. When those materials were put on the table with kids, it influenced the elementary students’ engagement.
Fine arts major Yu Ping Hu helped design the set for the Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine’s production of Sleeping Beauty. According to Hu, this kind of hands-on learning was particularly valuable. “I meet many different people and learn to step outside of my own box,” she says. “I might be contributing to the community through my art, but in return, the community gives back compliments and suggestions that allow me to grow as an artist.”
Professor Mary Lynn Engel’s Marketing Communications class worked with local lobstermen to develop a communications plan to raise awareness of the current issues facing the Maine lobster industry. Through research and working closely with the local lobstering community, students learned the importance of speaking with one voice and working together to influence change. They developed a complete communications package that the community is now using to move forward with their "Made in Maine" brand.
For more information about community-based learning, service learning, or community-based research, contact Mylan Bannon at mbannon@sjcme.edu or 207-893-6643.
Awards and Actions
Highlighting the College’s focus on community service throughout its mission and daily interactions on campus and within the local, regional, and global communities.
“This classification reflects the dedication the College community has not just to living our core values, but to providing our students learning experiences that prepare them to be both skilled and compassionate citizens of the world,” says Kimberly Post, director of community-based learning. “As a Sisters of Mercy institution we are altruistic by nature, and the Carnegie classification recognizes this as well as our real-world, community-based approach to teaching and learning.”
→ Read the full story about the Carnegie Foundation Classification
At Saint Joseph’s College, sustainability now permeates every aspect of our work. The College’s strategic plan Sustaining the Promise says:
“We are an intentional community—one where everyone is committed to the practice and pursuit of the Core Values that are central to our identity as Catholic and Mercy—in everything we do from our educational programs to the ways we work and live together… Our continuing focus on these common concerns has led us to embrace the theme of “wellness and sustainability” as a major organizing principle.”
Community Partnerships
We are constantly working to create more effective ways to connect community-based organizations and faculty-led academic courses with similar interests.
Community-Based Action Research
There are opportunities to partner with research-focused courses in order to begin or complete a research interest of your organization. Contact cbl@sjcme.edu with the name of faculty members with similar research interests, and we will assist you in forming a research partnership.
Request for Partnerships (RFP)
The RFP process is an efficient way to begin the process of developing successful partnerships. The RFP will provide you with valuable program information, including:
- organization eligibility
- student participation and expectations
- partnership requirements and expectations
Students in all course levels can serve in traditional volunteer roles, provided that the service opportunity aligns with the course objectives. However, partnerships are not limited to predetermined roles. Please consider needs and projects that have not been met by traditional volunteer and/or staff positions.
Spring and Fall RFP
Part I: Guidelines
Part II: Partner Application
Priority is given to applications received by May 1 for the May semester and August 1 for the Fall semester. All applications will be considered, but if your request can’t be matched appropriately with a course, we will pass your application on to other service organizations within the College, if appropriate.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at cbl@sjcme.edu or 207-893-7789. We look forward to partnering with you and your organization!
Guidelines for Community Partners
Evaluation and Assessment
Evaluation and assessment ensures that student learning and community partner goals are met, and all parties are benefiting from the partnership. Parties also assess the effectiveness of the partnership through evaluations, meetings, and/or other forms of communication.
Academic credit is given for learning outcomes and final student grades are determined by the faculty.
Community Partners are not obligated to implement ideas or recommendations provided by student project outcomes. However, we aim for contributions to be worthy of implementation.
Terminating a Partnership
There are many communication and feedback mechanisms in place to help address issues before they progress. However, in rare situations a partnership must end prematurely if/when student learning or community partner goals are not able to be met. Decisions will be made after agreement between all parties.
Community Partner Selection Process
All proposals will be reviewed based on alignment of service roles/projects and course learning objectives.
Organizations with matching needs/interests will be contacted by the service learning coordinator and/or faculty member(s) for further discussion to ensure expectations are clear to all parties. All partnerships are finalized in collaboration with the faculty member and community partner.
We cannot guarantee a course match for each community partner and/or service opportunity, but we will do our best. If a match cannot be made, we will try to connect you with another service program at Saint Joseph’s College.
The number of community partnerships needed for each class varies and at times, individual classes are cancelled due to enrollment fluctuations and faculty changes. We will communicate changes as soon as they are confirmed.
Forms
For community supervisor:
→ Community Partner Evaluation
For students:
→ Community-Based Learning Agreement
→ Student Evaluation of Community Partner
Contact
Mylan Bannon
Community-Based Learning
mbannon@sjcme.edu
207-893-6643
→ Learn about our Community and Sustainability Engaged (CASE) Scholarship