Welcome to the Tuesday Teaching Tip, an easy-to-implement tool that you can use immediately in your classroom teaching. 

TUESDAY TEACHING TIP: Co-designing Meaningful Community Partnerships

Authentic community partnerships move beyond transactional relationships to create genuine, collaborative experiences that center community expertise and needs. Unlike traditional service-learning models that can perpetuate deficit-based thinking, co-designed partnerships prioritize reciprocity, mutual learning, and community agency.

This week, we challenge you to initiate a conversation with a local community organization that centers their goals and perspective, rather than approaching them with a pre-determined academic agenda.

Here’s one way to do it 

• Schedule an exploratory meeting with a community organization; you could identify potential organizations by talking with colleagues or connecting with the CBL resources listed below
• Research an organization's mission and current priorities
• Review the Experiential Learning for Social Justice (ELSJ) core requirements to consider how a new course might make space for meaningful community partnerships
• Ask your students what organizations they are involved with and what those organizations are currently working on

DID YOU DO IT?

Let us know how it went. We would love to hear your feedback about how you implemented today’s Tuesday Teaching Tip in your classroom. Click here to fill out our 3-question survey. The survey is anonymous, but if you choose to enter your name, you’ll be entered in a drawing at the end of the quarter to win a new book from Faculty Development!

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Come to the CAFE: Best Practices in CBL Monday, February 3, 2025 from 11:45 - 12:45 in Varsi 222 and join us for an interactive session designed to help you take your community-based learning (CBL) courses to the next level.

WANT TO READ A LITTLE MORE?

• See how colleagues at SCU use CBL in engineering’s SCALED program (Service & Community Active Learning Using Engineering Design), Ignatian Center’s Thriving Neighbors Initiative, and Arrup Center.

This week’s Tuesday Teaching Tip was prepared by C.J. Gabbe and Long Le on behalf of the Faculty Collaborative.

 

Missed a teaching tip? Read them all here. Don’t forget to check out our Faculty Associates office hours here.

And check out our full calendar of CAFEs and other Faculty Development and Faculty Collaborative events.