DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE
WITH THESE STUDENTS?
What do you see as the value of COMMUNITY DAYS
in your Guttman experience?
COMMUNITY DAYS are a central component of the Guttman educational and pedagogical model that occur at the mid-point of the fall 1 (October) and spring 1 (April) semesters.
The days are reserved for students to engage in a curricular or co-curricular assignment that affords an experiential learning opportunity (ELO) to engage in community service, political activity, leadership, advocacy, or becoming substantively informed on issues related to social justice.
COMMUNITY DAYS assignments may begin before the semester’s two designated COMMUNITY DAYS and may take place on campus or off. Regardless, there should be an intentional and guided reflection component to the student experience that may occur on the October and April dates. The reflection component is both a sound pedagogical reinforcement of learning, and allows the instructor to determine and document the mastery of specific learning outcomes associated with Applied Learning and Civic Learning, Engagement, and Social Responsibility GLOs. The Civic Engagement Digital Badge or the Service Learning Digital Badge, found in students’ ePortfolios, can be used for student reflection on learning derived from the COMMUNITY DAYS assignment and/or for a grade.
For students in the First Year, each Instructional Team integrates a graded assignment incorporating civic activity, service-learning or community-based research as part of City Seminar in keeping with the chosen theme and the goals of the Applied and Civic Learning, Engagement and Social Responsibility GLOs. The COMMUNITY DAYS assignment can be an integrated part of a semester-long, NYC-centric approach or can be a discrete assignment designed for students to implement independently or reflect upon previous civic learning during the two days each semester while faculty are involved in assessment activities. If faculty choose to integrate service as their COMMUNITY DAYS assignment, they are encouraged to work with OPCE in assisting students in registering with www.newyorkcares.org to find service opportunities according to students’ interests, themes of the course, discipline or major, geographic and time preferences.
For students in the Programs of Study, faculty create assignments in at least two designated courses with COMMUNITY DAYS in mind so that students have opportunities to link the content and skills of their coursework to civic concerns correlated with their disciplines. Part of the COMMUNITY DAYS assignment offers students a framework in which they reflect upon how what they are learning in their major can have a public dimension that serves the common good. Continuing students participate in COMMUNITY DAYS according to faculty assignments and expectation of reflection.
The faculty member with expertise in Experiential Education supports faculty in the design, implementation and assessment of their COMMUNITY DAYS assignments. The Office of Partnerships and Community Engagement (OPCE) assists faculty in identifying potential community partners relevant to their coursework.
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