BUILDING ON THE BLOCK

BuildingOnTheBlockOur aim in strategic planning is to deepen the 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­E's effectiveness in advancing 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­'s strategic plan, titled "Building on the Block." We sought to determine how the 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­E can support the community engagement and engaged learning that best advances core goals of the college.

91Âé¶¹Ó³»­'s commitment to developing our students into lifelong engaged citizens is nothing new, reflected in our mission to "develop habits of intellect and imagination that will prepare students for learning and leadership throughout their lives," and core institutional value to "encourage engagement and social responsibility at local, national, and global levels." Through supporting place-based action, learning, and research opportunities, the 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­E embodies this commitment by challenging students to apply the spirit, intellect, and imagination developed through a liberal arts education toward solving public problems. Yet how we as a college realize that commitment - and more specifically how the 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­E builds capacity and coherency to that commitment - calls for renewed investment and strategic direction.

 


Community-engaged learning, research, and practice can powerfully support the recommendations of 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­'s strategic plan to "realize the potential of our ground-breaking Block Plan," "enhance our distinctive place of learning," and "connect the 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­ experience."

 

Recommendation1By educating the 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­ community about the challenges for and priorities of Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Region, community engagement develops a "sense of place" and understanding not only of the physical world in which 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­ is situated, but the communities in which we are embedded. Through programming that helps connect "students' learning experience across coursework, and across curricular and co-curricular experiences," community-based learning helps students discern the intersections between their engaged experiences and their intellectual and moral development as college students. Such experiences bridge students' college years and their post-91Âé¶¹Ó³»­ lives and allow exploration in career pathways in public good fields. Research also shows that community-based learning develops skills in students to more effectively navigate diversity and build inclusive spaces. Community-based research contributes to 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­'s overarching strategic aim to develop a spirit of innovation in our students, cultivating knowledge and skills that enable students to "produce real-world answers to complex questions" and become "change-makers" in social and environmental realms. By promoting the use and best practices of community-based learning and research among faculty, the 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­E builds on the assets of the block: immersive, experiential, and applied learning.

Recommenation6The 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­E's planning processes aimed to deepen the intentionality and outcomes of community-engaged work at 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­ toward realizing these components of the 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­ educational mission and strategic plan. Conceptualizing our work as supporting the central mission and priorities of the college, and remaining true to our work as a "collaborative," we sought to democratically form this plan by soliciting input from communities on and off campus.

This plan reflects the core concerns and priorities of the campus community, is rooted in the core concerns and priorities of 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­ as an institution, and will be realized through our support of work across the campus.

 

While the 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­E will drive and lead implementation, this plan emerges from and belongs to 91Âé¶¹Ó³»­.
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