I think first and foremost the one
particular benefit is that students get
just what they're learning in the
classroom in a community setting so
attached to real-world challenges
real-world opportunities students get to
see what they're doing in the classroom
come alive in and through their work
with with different organizations or
offices secondly I think there's some
job skills attached to right so there's
real benefits to going out and trying
out new things that you're learning in
classroom learning how particular
organizations communicate with the world
learning what an office environment
looks and feels like I think really has
a positive relationship and then third I
would say networking getting to know
what's happening in a community can lead
to all kinds of different things we've
had students stay on in their placements
for full-time jobs afterwards or
discover what they want to study in
graduate school so I think that ability
to do some networking outside of the
classroom is really quite valuable I
think the benefit of community engaged
learning over like regular placements is
really the idea of creating shared value
between three key partners so the
student the University and the community
and it really isn't finding that shared
value and reciprocity that the community
really sees a benefit in terms of moving
an important issue forward or an
important piece of work forward the
student has a great experience hopefully
and the University deepens that
relationship with the community I think
for myself
you've t could feel like you're really
large and sometimes isolating space and
in taking part in community engaged
learning courses I had the opportunity
probably for the first time in my
studies to feel a part of a bigger
picture to sort of see how my academic
knowledge could really be applied to
real-world scenarios I also got to see I
think in reality though I was a social
science student for the first time that
community knowledge is really important
and compliments really nicely with
academic knowledge but doesn't always
align directly with it so do you have
the opportunity to see myself as being
kind of a whole person beyond just a
student identity
was really something that was especially
valuable I'd say for me I engage
students in
a community-based participatory research
because I really want them to develop an
appreciation for different approaches to
community engagement different
approaches and methods to community
engaged research but perhaps even more
importantly I want the students to
develop an understanding and also an
appreciation of the principles the
values and importantly the ethics of
community-based participatory research
so those are really the benefits that I
see on the student side but I think when
engaging in community engaged learning
we have to be really mindful of the
benefits for the community and the
community partners that we work with and
in the context of a community-based
research course I would emphasize that
we're always trying to respond to a need
for research identified by the community
partner so we're not coming in imposing
a research question on the community so
in anticipation or in preparation for
the course I always try to work with
community partners and really find out
what would be most meaningful to them
and then throughout the duration of the
course we really emphasize collaborative
knowledge production and hopefully
building some capacity in the community
that goes beyond the duration of a
semester so those I would see as the
main benefits of of my teaching practice
in community well I find that it's
actually a reciprocal relationship
between yourself as a student and the
community partner where you're placed at
so the benefit for the student being you
get a more kind of intimate experience
with what it's like working in the
social purpose sector something you
wouldn't necessarily have gotten just as
a volunteer but not as much agency as
you have as an employee so it's a very
interesting kind of in-between stage
where you get enough of a taste of what
a career in this field could look like
and as someone who might be approaching
this course with an interest in that
field that's one of the benefits of the
course on the other hand you have the
community partner who then gets another
eager set of hands and also some outside
input into maybe their programs or
whatever the nature of your contract is
so it's a very interesting benefit on
both sides there I see the benefits of
virtually community engaged
anything in my mind if we want the
society that we're going to have in the
future we need community engaged
citizens so the idea of starting that as
a practice in university is just a
wonderful way of grounding people in
understanding the sort of complex
interplay of relationships in
communities and how you can contribute
to that to improve wellbeing for
everyone