Community-Engaged Courses

Curricular Community Engagement  

Community Engagement in curriculum is practiced through service learning, a pedagogical framework. Service learning at OHIO is structured experiential education linked to a course that intentionally supports student learning and community-based organizations equally. The Center for Community Impact (CCI) has been instrumental in the development of Community Engagement Courses (C-Courses). For a service learning course to be designated as a C-Course, it must meet the following criteria: 

  • Based on collaboration and mutual benefit for faculty and community organizations
  • Serves the common good
  • Has service embedded in the course curriculum
  • Requires at least 20 hours of structured, intentional work on a service project
  • Requires reflections that link experience to academic material 

Faculty interested in developing a C-Course are strongly encouraged to participate in the Community Engaged Scholars Program, a professional development program.

For more information regarding the course designation process and other supports for instructors interested in integrating community engagement into a class, please see the Faculty Resource page linked below.

Faculty Resources 

C-Course Mini-Grants

Designated C-Courses are eligible for mini-grants to reduce barriers related to community engagement. C-Course Mini-Grant Applications are available online. Applications are due April 15 for Summer Session and Fall Semester and November 15 for Spring Semester. Mini-Grants are renewable.

Manage Curricular Service-Learning with Givepulse

Instructors interested in adding community-engaged components to any course can utilize GivePulse’s integration with Canvas to seamlessly move students from the Canvas Course into the synced course within the GivePulse platform and coordinate events with community partners.  

This enables instructors to: 

  • Directly promote specific opportunities listed on GivePulse that would fulfill course requirements to their students
  • Build service-learning events allowing students to register for various shifts or activities
  • Enable their community partner access to post opportunities and verify or assess student participation via the desktop platform or on-site using GivePulse’s mobile app
  • Utilize automated reminders and a message board to communicate with students and partners
  • Collect, record, and report student outcomes, impacts and artifacts 

New to GivePulse? Create your account and learn more and schedule a tutorial with the CCI to get started!