As a Community-Engaged Learning Project Assistant, this blog draws on insights I gathered from interviews with multiple academics who are currently running or planning to run CEL projects. This blog will share their perspectives, providing valuable insights into the challenges they faced and the lessons they learned to help others enhance their CEL partnerships.
Community-engaged learning (CEL) represents an opportunity for students to tackle real-world problems in collaboration with community partners. At its core, this approach is built on values of mutual benefit, respect, and empowerment, creating transformational experiences for students while addressing community needs. These projects not only allow students to develop new skills but also contribute to the civic mission of the university by fostering innovation and meaningful change. The success of these partnerships depends on managing expectations effectively. Misaligned goals or expectations can disrupt collaboration and limit the potential for all stakeholders involved: students, academics, and community partners
Our mission:
To make a positive impact locally, nationally and globally by addressing society’s greatest challenges through our distinctive education, innovative research and the value we place on excellence, inclusivity and partnership.
Taken from the Vision and Strategy Brochure 2030
Managing Expectations
Managing expectations is one of the most important factors in CEL projects. Community partners may feel frustrated if their goals or needs are overlooked, while students might become overwhelmed when tasked with responsibilities beyond their capacity or training. For academics, it can complicate project coordination and diminish the overall learning experience for students. Ultimately, without clear and realistic expectations, CEL projects risk becoming unproductive, one-sided, or even damaging to the partnerships they aim to strengthen.
Mutual benefit
When planning for a postgraduate unit, students were to be engaged in a sprint challenge where a community partner would present a ‘real-world brief’. While the project aimed to be mutually beneficial, challenges arose with the misunderstandings between the community partners when they requested market research, whereas the students required practical, real-world examples to apply theoretical concepts. This disconnect led to delays as the partner struggled to adjust their expectations to align with the student’s academic capacity and timeline.
For CEL projects to succeed, they must deliver mutual benefits to all stakeholders involved. Students should gain valuable, real-world skills and experiences that enhance their academic and personal growth. Academics should be able to create engaging learning opportunities that align with curriculum goals, while community partners should receive meaningful contributions to their work or community.
Align goals
Aligning goals and capabilities early is essential for the success of CEL projects. By collaborating with community partners at the planning stage, project goals can be tailored to match students’ skills and the academic timeframe. By being proactive, it can prevent misunderstandings early on. Equally important is avoiding ambitious proposals that exceed students’ capacity or available time. In another postgraduate unit, initial expectations from both students and community partners were overly ambitious. The academic had to scale down the project scope mid-planning to ensure feasibility, highlighting the value of setting realistic goals from the outset.
Tip: Align goals early and avoid ambitious proposals
Defining roles and being realistic
Another crucial strategy is to remind partners of the student’s capabilities and workload limitations. In a discussion with community partners, the academic found that providing them with clear project briefs and examples of past work helped them to understand what students could deliver. Defining roles and setting realistic timelines is key to ensuring projects are manageable within the constraints of the academic term. Another undergraduate unit successfully achieved this by working with partners to align project timelines with term weeks while also informing them about the students’ capabilities and areas of training, enabling students to complete their work without compromising quality or partner satisfaction.
Tip: Remind partners of students’ capabilities and set realistic timelines
Managing expectations in CEL projects is a shared challenge that many academics navigate. By fostering clear communication, aligning goals, and setting realistic timelines, educators can create meaningful and sustainable collaborations that benefit all stakeholders.
What has your experience been in fostering sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships? Have you encountered challenges in aligning goals or balancing priorities? We invite you to share your insights, reflections, and examples in the comments below. You can also sign up for the Community Engaged Learning Forum through Microsoft Forms. By contributing to this discussion, we can collectively enhance our understanding and practices, building a stronger foundation for effective CEL collaborations.
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