CEL Course Designation

Community-Engaged Learning and Course Designation

Instructors and departments can designate courses as community-engaged, aka service-learning. The purpose of designation is to help students seek and find these courses when they register for classes and for campus to track these high-impact practices. Designated courses receive a notation in iGPS and are listed in the Special Course Listings (available for viewing at the bottom of this page), maintained by the Office of the Registrar.

Consult the Key features of Community-Engaged Learning to understand how to follow best practice for these courses.

Complete the Community-Engaged Learning Course Designation. 

Key features of Community-Engaged Learning are:

  • Engagement with a community, addressing a community-identified need and giving  opportunities to address and examine social and civic issues arising from the engagement
  • Reciprocity guiding partnerships and undergirding course design to achieve benefits for students, faculty, and community
  • Complete Integration of the community engaged experience throughout the course to enhance student learning
  • Reflection that is regular, ongoing, and critical to help students link community-engaged learning experiences to their understanding of course content,  community, and themselves
  • Opportunities to examine and develop civic skills and competencies (civic knowledge; analytic skills; and participatory and involvement skills) and civic engagement (motivations, attitudes, and efficacy; democratic norms and values; and participation and activities)
  • Assessment for course improvement and to document effect of student learning experiences on community 

The Service-Learning Program sends reminders via the service-learning listserv. To add yourself to the mailing list, send an email message to service-learningiu-subscribe@list.indiana.edu.

IU Bloomington Community Engaged Learning Courses