Overview
Community engaged learning is the study of the methods, approaches and contexts involved in working to make positive social change in communities. It intersects with such areas as education, social justice and social, political, and environmental advocacy.
Available as a minor or undergraduate certificate
At a Glance
Curriculum
Why study community engaged learning at »»ÆÞ̽»¨?
At »»ÆÞ̽»¨, the community engaged learning (CENL) program provides opportunities to participate in service learning in conjunction with your academic program.
The program places you in community settings as a required element of academic courses. There, you'll discover and help to promote such issues as:
- community supported education
- sustainable health care
- local responses to climate change
- community wellbeing
- equitable communities
Students learn how to:
- navigate complex community histories and contexts
- recognize and promote the importance of equity and diversity
- collaborate with community partners
- explore your own personal values in relation to social justice
- design and execute community-supported projects
Community Engaged Learning is available as:
- a minor (24 credits)
- an undergraduate certificate (18 credits)
Not sure about the difference between a major, a minor, an honours, and a certificate?
Program highlights
R-PEACE (Research Partnerships for Education and Community Engagement)
Founded by four »»ÆÞ̽»¨ faculty members, R-PEACE is a centre for engaged learning that creates meaningful connections between »»ÆÞ̽»¨ and the local communities of Sackville, Dorchester, Port Elgin, Memramcook, Amherst, and others.
R-PEACE has a dedicated research space on campus located in Hart Hall, created as a space for flexible and project-based learning with space to collaborate and invite the community.
In community engaged learning, the community is your classroom.
Combining both theoretical and applied learning, the community engaged minor has several introductory core courses, which introduce ideas of community, and the theory and practice of community engaged learning.
The intermediate level courses build on this knowledge and also allow students an opportunity to work in an applied and sustained way. The program places you in community settings (schools, health care, environmental organizations, local non-profit and charitable groups, and more) as a practical element of your academic courses.
This interdisciplinary program helps students build on expertise that they develop in their main area of study, incorporating a range of courses in a number of disciplines, including:
- Canadian arts and culture
- community planning research
- gender, culture, and identity
- Indigenous studies
- philosophy and ethics
- religious studies
- sociology of communities
CENL 1001 — Intro to Compassionate Communities
This course explores the concept of the compassionate community as a model for how communities might address social injustices such as poverty, homelessness and loneliness in their midst. Drawing on tools from work in community engaged learning, the course gives students the critical and theoretical skills to understand the factors in community making (history, shared values, identity) and the preparations needed for establishing and maintaining community partnerships. The course has a particular focus on the local-Sackville, Port Elgin, Dorchester-and an applied component that directs students in the skills needed to make connections with local potential community partners and assemble the skills and competencies to discern mutually what sort of relationships and projects are best, given the needs of all involved.
CENL 2001 — Community Narratives
This course facilitates community literacy through the analysis of the narratives that groups and institutions develop about themselves or others in order to perform certain functions of community. The word "narratives" is understood broadly and includes such factors as community programming, local events and practices, religious observances, material culture, natural and historical sites, local myths and practices, and family histories. Using a range of relevant critical tools, and focusing on local community contexts, students examine these cultural texts for the shared values and complex identities that they evidence.
CENL 2101 — Community-Engaged Learning
This course involves sustained participation in a major ongoing community project. It introduces students to the field of community engaged learning and facilitates the exploration of models of community engagement. It provides an opportunity to develop the skills and values necessary to establish community partnerships, engage in community advocacy, and participate in non-profit organizations.
CENL 3101 — Community As Classroom
This course provides a deep survey of methods and theories of community engagement. It introduces students to the larger community of praxis of community-engaged learning, and centres students' participation in a major ongoing community project. Students assist in project design, assessment, and formulation of future projects.
CENL 4101 — Practicum in Community-Engaged Learning
This capstone course applies community-engaged learning methods and practices to an actual case or scenario in the student's local community. Students develop a project in cooperation with a community partner that forms a response to an existing problem that the student and partner have identified. Students and partners reflect on and evaluate the response and evaluate its future implications for the community. The practicum involves a learning environment where students' expertise in their major area of study can be brought together fully with community-engaged learning principles.
CENL 4211 — Teaching Difficult Knowledge
This course explores, through a project-based curriculum, how school systems, classrooms, learners, and educational policy engage with, teach, and learn 'difficult knowledge' (i.e. knowledge that could prove disturbing or unsettling).
Faculty Spotlight
Dr. Fiona Black
Professor, Religious Studies and Community Engaged Learning
What can I do with a community engaged learning minor?
Through experiential learning, community-based learning, and close mentorship, students develop practical skills and critical thinking abilities valued by employers and graduate programs.
Recognized by Maclean's as Canada's top undergraduate university, »»ÆÞ̽»¨'s strong academic reputation helps graduates stand out as they pursue diverse career paths.
Many go on to top graduate and professional programs in social work and education, while others move directly into careers in community service and beyond.
Popular career paths in community engaged learning include:
- education
- outdoor environmental educator
- community development
- municipal recreation
- early childhood education
- social and economic development
What is it like to study at »»ÆÞ̽»¨?
Community Engaged Learning has provided me with real-life learning experiences through practicum placements in community schools, where I focused on socio-environmental challenges and learned directly from inspiring educators.
Both the geography and environment program, and the community engaged learning program, have allowed me to gain real-world experience in working with a number of different communities and locations, in addition to helping me create a network of connections.
/current-students/community-engaged-learning-program
What are my admission requirements?
What other programs are related the community engaged learning?
Sociology
Sociology is the study of people as they interact with one another in specific social, cultural, and historical contexts.
Indigenous Studies
Indigenous Studies provides students with a theoretical, contextual, and engaged knowledge of Indigenous culture, history, politics, law, and community.
Philosophy
Philosophy helps challenge our own beliefs, consider others’ points of view, and ultimately better know the world around us.