Front Page / Campus-Wide Integration /Engaged Signature Work / Reading Group

Engaged Signature Work Reading Group

Overview   | Guides  | Campus Examples |  Documents to Download

Civic Engagement Reading Group: A Recommended Strategy for the Cohort Learning Community

Several campuses in the Bonner network (such as Allegheny College, Berea College, Dickinson College, Rhodes College, and Siena College) and beyond have successfully used reading groups as a strategy for expanding the knowledge and practice of community engagement and community-engaged scholarship on campus. They are also excellent strategies for faculty engagement and development, as well as discussions of campus culture and change. Many groups have included administrators, students, and community partners.

Recommended Actions

By blending the meetings of reading groups with discussion of strategies for integration with curriculum and partnerships in your context, the reading group can also function as a planning strategy. We recommend you set some benchmarks for the following, which the Foundation will work with you to support:

• Project definitions and meetings with partners
• Course integration or design (and approval if necessary)
• Workshops and trainings with students

Suggested Use of Readings

Below is an example for a reading group with seven meetings, using some of the resources listed. We suggest that you split the readings up amongst your reading group members, asking a pair (or small group) to be responsible for reading, summarizing, and presenting the key points. In subsequent months, the Bonner Foundation will provide summaries and discussion guides for the learning community cohort.

Meeting 1

Read and discuss An Overview of Capstones and Signature Work by AAC&U

Conduct research on capstones in your majors and academic programs.

Discuss capstones currently at the institution and integrated with civic work.

Meeting 2

Read and discuss The Scholarship of Engagement by Ernest Boyer 

Read and discuss A New Scholarship Requires a New Epistemology by Donald Schön

Discuss the conceptualizations of an engaged institution and scholarship and how they apply to your campus.

Meeting 3

Read and discuss Democratic Engagement White Paper by John Saltmarsh, Matthew Hartley, and Patti Clayton

Read and discuss The Scholarship of Community Partner Voice by Sean Creighton

Discuss the concepts of democratic community engagement and strategies for producing knowledge in partnerships between faculty, students, and community.

Meeting 4

Read and discuss Taking Stock of Capstones and Integrative Learning by Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director, Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and NSSE

Read and discuss Going Beyond the Requirement: The Capstone Experience by Peggy Redman, Director of the La Verne Experience at the University of La Verne Boyer 

Discuss viable reasons (i.e., learning outcomes) and avenues for creating capstone courses at your institution.

Meeting 5

Read and discuss Civic Engagement in the Capstone: The “State of the Community” Event by Charles C. Turner, California State University, Chico 

Read and discuss Civic Engagement through Civic Agriculture: Using Food to Link Classroom and Community by D. Wynn Wright, Michigan State University

Discuss the take-aways from these articles about effective community-engaged capstones.

Meeting 6

Read and discuss Putting Students at the Center of Civic Engagement by Richard M. Battistoni and Nicholas V. Longo

Read and discuss College Graduates’ Perspectives on the Effect of Capstone Service-Learning Courses by Seanna Kerrigan, Portland State University

Discuss opportunities for student voice and leadership in the capstone design and courses.

Meeting 7

Read and discuss Doing Less Work, Collecting Better Data: Using Capstone Courses to Assess Learning by Catherine White Berheide 

Read and discuss Generating, Deepening, and Documenting Learning: The Power of Critical Reflection in Applied Learning by Sarah Ash, North Carolina State University, and Patti Clayton, PHC Ventures

Discuss the integration of critical reflection and assessment of student learning in capstones.

Download a Full Guide and Additional Readings

You can download the Reading Group Design in a word document format, which includes a longer Annotated Bibliography of additional readings here.

CAPSTONE SIGNATURE WORK READING GROUP & BIBLIOGRAPHY.pdf

• A Capstone Course of “Geographic Ideas” by Alice Judith Hovorka, University of Guelph in Ontario 
• An Overview of Capstones and Signature Work from the Association of American Colleges and Universities 
• Broadcast Journalism Education and the Capstone Experience by Andrea Tanner, Kathy Forde, John Besley, and Tom Weir, University of South Carolina
• Capstone interdisciplinary team project: a requirement for the MS in sustainability degree by Latin Jiji, Irvin Schonfield, and George Smith 
• Civic Engagement in the Capstone: The “State of the Community” Event by Charles C. Turner, California State University, Chico 
• Civic Engagement through Civic Agriculture: Using Food to Link Classroom and Community by D. Wynn Wright, Michigan State University
• Creating the New American College, by Ernest Boyer
• College Graduates’ Perspectives on the Effect of Capstone Service-Learning Courses by Seanna Kerrigan, Portland State University 
• Democratic Engagement White Paper, by John Saltmarsh, Matthew Hartley, and Patti Clayton 
• Designing and Implementing an Integrative, Collaborative, Problem-Solving-Based General Education Capstone by C.B. Griffin, and Wendy Burns-Ardolino, Grand Valley State University 
• Doing Less Work, Collecting Better Data: Using Capstone Courses to Assess Learning by Catherine White Berheide 
• Generating, Deepening, and Documenting Learning: The Power of Critical Reflection in Applied Learning by Sarah Ash, North Carolina State University, and Patti Clayton, PHC Ventures/Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis 
• Going Beyond the Requirement: The Capstone Experience by Peggy Redman, Director of the La Verne Experience at the University of La Verne Boyer 
• How valuable are capstone projects for community organizations? Lessons from a program assessment by David Campbell and Kristina Lambright, Binghamton University
• Making Community-Based Learning Meaningful: Faculty Efforts to Increase Student Civic Engagement Skills by Christine Cress 
• Promoting Liberal Learning in a Capstone Accounting Course by Sunita Ahlawat, Gerald Miller, and Abdus Shahid, The College of New Jersey
• Research-Methods Modules: Preparing Students for the Capstone in Communication Studies by Ellen Hay, David Snowball, Wendy Hilton-Morrow, Stephen Klien, Augustana College 
• Student Learning Outcomes and Documenting Success through a Capstone Course by Paul Sum and Steven Light, University of North Dakota 
• Taking Stock of Capstones and Integrative Learning by Jillian Kinzie, Associate Director, Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research; researcher with the National Survey of Student Engagement Institute 
• The New Scholarship Requires a New Epistemology, by Donald Schön, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• The Scholarship of Community Partner Voice, by Sean Creighton, writing for the Kettering Foundation
• Why Faculty Promotion and Tenure Matters to Community Partners, by Elmer Freeman, Susan Gust, and Deborah Aloshen, connected with Campus-Community Partnerships for Health