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Community Engaged Learning
Community engaged learning enacts the College's mission to develop graduates who will become community leaders. This work involves a powerful partnership of community and college in which students work with community organizations to address community problems. The community gains the effort and expertise of students; students gain knowledge of community issues and leadership and technical skills from our community partners. This is a developmental learning process for our students: over the course of their college careers, they increase their knowledge and skills by addressing similar issues several times, each time in more depth. The students assume more responsibility in their working relationships with community partners as they develop expertise.
There are several kinds of community engaged learning at TCNJ:
Liberal Learning
Our Liberal Learning program expects community-based outcomes of all of our graduates. These outcomes are achieved through a service-learning experience in the first year and community-engaged work in subsequent courses or cocurricular activities. Community Engagement & The FYE Graduation Requirement
Liberal Learning Outcomes
Students should seek to sustain and advance the communities in which they live by engaging in an informed and academically based service experience.
- Students should think critically, analytically, and inclusively about their society. They should develop a hands-on understanding of class, power, and privilege.
- Students should develop the means to apply the knowledge they gain from their academic experiences within the context of everyday community life. They should understand how to accept responsibility for active and engaged citizenship in a complex and diverse society.
Community Based Research
Community based research includes students and faculty collaborating with community organization to address a specific problem identified by the community organization. In recent years, students have designed primary research projects to provide information for decision making, completed planning and implementation tasks necessary to develop programs, or conducted program evaluations.
