Activities
Promising Practices Tele-learning seminars
National and regional conferences
National communications strategy with the non-profit sector
Goals
ADVOCATE FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE-LEARNING
- be a consistent voice promoting the clear definition and effective practice of community service-learning (CSL) to all potential program partners
- encourage active participation by all potential partners in CSL programs (students, community organizations, instructors, researchers, university/college staff, community members, and alumni) by ensuring full accessibility (i.e. by ability, language, economics, culture, etc)
- explore and secure ongoing funding from a variety of sources to support the growth and sustainability of CSL across Canada
EDUCATE ABOUT COMMUNITY SERVICE-LEARNING
- promote CSL benefits, including invigorated teaching environments, enhanced student learning and community capacity building
- facilitate identifying and addressing CSL challenges, including fair and equal community/campus partnerships and institutional incentives for involved faculty members
- assist in the preparation of students, educators and staff from community organizations to participate in CSL
NETWORK COMMUNITY SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAMS IN CANADA
- facilitate knowledge sharing and professional networking between CSL programs and CSL program partners
- support collaborations between CSL practitioners across Canada, with special attention to include francophone institutions
- create and sustain inter-sectoral CSL networks
RESEARCH COMMUNITY SERVICE-LEARNING IN CANADA
- define new and ongoing arenas of needed CSL-related research in Canada; for example:
- research on “best practices” in CSL: these types of studies will compare and evaluate different approaches to administering and teaching CSL, assess short- and/or long-term learning and service outcomes from the perspectives of university and/or community participants, and will be geared toward models from which other practitioners and academics can draw
- research that is based in or linked to CSL: these projects may be housed in specific courses or tied to the research agenda of a particular professor, academic program, or community organization; they involve students in direct community-based research
- liaise with other organizations to share research knowledge and assess research ideas, for example international CSL organizations and research councils, especially SSHRC in Canada.
- lead in the research on national resource needs and the creation of Canadian resource materials related to CSL
- support, monitor, and disseminate information on research about best practices in Canadian CSL programs related to program design, implementation and evaluation, student learning and development, and community capacity-building
- promote the development of uniquely Canadian CSL model