Community-Engaged Learning Courses

Community-Engaged Learning Course Attribute Policy

Effective: Fall 2020

Version History: Endorsed by the Curriculum Subcommittee March 21, 2019, approved by EVCAA May 22, 2019. Revised by the Curriculum Subcommittee spring 2025 and the Faculty Senate fall 2025, with shared governance and campus input fall 2025; UCC confirmation April 17, 2026; EVCP approval June 5, 2026.

Policy owner: Academic Affairs

Policy Contact: Jennifer Mencl (undergraduate education), Erik Brown (graduate education)
 

The Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) course attribute is a formal designation in the University’s curriculum management systems, which indicates that the course involves a community-engaged learning experience. CEL is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful service with the academic curriculum to enrich student learning experiences, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. This teaching approach emphasizes analysis and reflection, and enables students to meet learning goals through community-engaged experiences identified by community organizations in collaboration with faculty. Examples of community-engaged learning include community-engaged research, project-based, advocacy-based, or direct-immersion-based experiences.

Requirements for a course to be designated with the CEL attribute:

  1. New or existing courses must be approved to have the attribute. Departments seeking the CEL attribute for a course must follow established college and campus course review and approval procedures. 
  2. The CEL attribute at the course level requires that all sections of the course involve a community-engaged learning experience.
  3. Community-engaged learning experiences require partnerships with collaborating organizations (COs) in the community.
    1. COs can be non-profit organizations, governmental entities, for-profit organizations, and other organizations with clearly stated missions serving the public good.
    2. UMD Engage staff confirm COs have completed appropriate University documentation.
    3. Instructors work with COs to develop community-engaged learning experiences that will meet course learning goals and CO/community needs. 
    4. Instructors are expected to regularly communicate with COs and provide them with the course syllabus and other materials related to their community-engaged learning experiences.
  4. A CEL-approved course must meet all of the following criteria:
    1. Integrated learning: Community-engaged learning experiences are relevant to the course subject matter and content, and students synthesize their community-engaged learning experiences within the course/class.
    2. Minimum threshold: At least 25 percent of the course grade focuses on and/or incorporates community-engaged learning whereby student learning from community-engaged learning experiences is assessed. 
    3. Alignment to outcomes: Community-engaged learning experiences involve student learning outcomes that align to course, program, and/or campus learning outcomes.
    4. Ongoing reflection and dialogue: Students reflect on their community-engaged learning experiences on a regular basis and in a way that includes dialogue about community issues as appropriate to the course.
    5. Mutually agreed-upon expectations and outcomes: The instructor and the CO in the community develop and document an agreed-upon set of expectations and outcomes for students, the CO, and other stakeholders as applicable. A copy of the documented expectations and outcomes are provided to UMD Engage.
  5. Instructors teaching an approved CEL-attribute course must conduct CEL course assessment and submit the related assessment form in accordance with campus assessment practices. The assessment reports include documentation of student learning and community impact, and reaffirm the instructor and department’s ongoing commitment to community-engaged learning. Courses without assessment reports are subject to the removal of the CEL attribute. If the CEL attribute is removed, the department must reapply for the course to be re-designated with the CEL attribute.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How might students benefit from knowing a course has been approved for the CEL attribute?

Designation of a course/class with the CEL attribute allows students to find CEL-approved courses that meet curricular and co-curricular program requirements. The CEL attribute may also alert students of off-campus commitments, which are common for these community experiences.

2. What pedagogies are common in courses that have the CEL attribute at UMD?

UMD’s definition of community-engaged learning involves high-impact, experiential learning that engages students in service as an integrated facet of a course. Within community-engaged learning, classroom studies complement service within the community and enable students to reflect upon and address local and global social problems. Community-engaged learning engages students in active, collaborative, and inquiry-based learning experiences that meet identified community needs. Community-engaged learning is an innovative way for students to learn core academic outcomes, and the pedagogy helps to reorient learning from an individual pursuit to a community asset. 

3. Can faculty seek approval for courses with community service components or internships/practicum to have the UMD CEL attribute?  

Learning experiences without all the necessary components of CEL, such as traditional internships, practica, student teaching, or volunteering, are not typically eligible to receive the CEL attribute. Students who volunteer for course requirements may consider furthering their community engagement participation and development through additional activities for the campus’s community engagement pathway program. Internships, practica, and student teaching that may be CEL will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in consultation with UMD Engage to confirm community engagement principles are evident in the student’s experience.